European countries are face debt crisis from late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning some European states, intensifying in early 2010 and thereafter. While the sovereign debt increases have been most pronounced in only a few eurozone countries, they have become a perceived problem for the area as a whole. On the side of the excessively borrowing states the governments have had problems to finance further budget deficits and service existing high debt levels. Especially in countries where government budget deficits and sovereign debts have increased sharply, a crisis of confidence has emerged with the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other EU members, most importantly Germany. This included Eurozone members Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Portugal, and also some non-Eurozone European Union (EU) countries. In October 2011, eurozone leaders meeting in Brussels agreed on a package of measures designed to prevent the collapse of member economies due to their spiralling debt. Concern about rising government debt levels across the globe together with a wave of downgrading of European government debt created alarm in financial markets. Despite the debt crisis in a number of eurozone countries the European currency remained stable, trading even slightly higher against the Euro bloc's major trading partners than at the beginning of the crisis.
In May 2010 the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Olli Rehn, called for "absolutely necessary" deficit cuts by the heavily indebted countries of Spain and Portugal.
