UK’s Cameron has assurances to stay out of Greece aid

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday he had received assurances that Britain will not be asked to contribute to any new bailout of indebted Greece now under discussion among European leaders.
Cameron said during a visit to Prague that the European Financial Stability Mechanism, a facility funded by all EU members, should not be used for new loans to Greece, reiterating Britain's stance before an EU summit starting later on Thursday.
"We have the support for that from many other countries and also I have received assurances from other countries, including from the Germans, that this won't be the case, and I'm sure they will stick to those assurances," he told a news conference after meeting Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas.
European leaders will try to convince Greeks and financial markets when they meet on Thursday and Friday that they have a workable plan to help Athens avoid a debt default and return to financial stability.
Using a mixture of arm-twisting and moral support, the leaders will tell Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that they will release the latest 12 billion euros of an emergency aid package, helping Athens to avoid a potential mid-July default, as long as it commits itself to economic reform.
Cameron said Britain had an interest in the euro zone working out its debt troubles but Britain and EFSM should stay out of the Greek plans.
"First of all, Britain was not involved in the first bailout of Greece, that was something done by euro zone members after discussion of euro zone members," he said.
"The second point… as we are not members in the euro zone, we have not been involved in these discussions at all. So it would be quite wrong now to ask us to contribute."