Europe Commits to Action on Greek Debt

European leaders promised Thursday to safeguard their common currency, the euro, by aiding Greece during its debt crisis. But they offered no immediate assistance to the Greek government and remained silent on how they would respond if investors remain jittery about Greece and other nations with weak economies that use the euro.

Germany blocked discussion of specific bailout mechanisms, forcing the leaders of the 27 countries in the European Union to turn their attention instead to prodding Greece to get its finances under control, promising stringent monitoring of Greece’s tough austerity program.

With the euro facing its worst crisis since it was created in 1999, the leaders who gathered in Brussels offered little more than a statement pledging “determined and coordinated action” if needed to protect the financial stability of the 16 nations within the bloc that use the euro.

“It’s a political message that we wanted to send out today,” said Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, the umbrella body under which the leaders met. “The Greek government will take the responsibility for cleaning up its public finances.” The leaders said that finance ministers would meet Monday to discuss additional actions.

With days of diplomacy having led up to the meeting, many people had expected that the leaders would produce a more specific plan to reassure markets that have been anxious about who would organize a Greek bailout if necessary.

Mr. Van Rompuy and Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the finance ministers whose nations use the euro, which is known as the euro zone, were clearly disappointed by the result of last-ditch private talks on Thursday aimed at persuading Germany to commit to a broader accord, said a diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Discussions on the eve of the talks had centered on a bailout that might use financing from nations that use the euro and that would call on the expertise of the International Monetary Fund to ensure that aid extended to a country at risk would be conditional on it overhauling its finances. The plan endorsed by the leaders includes a role for the monetary fund to help prod Greece into action, but without incentives to encourage the Greek government to meet its goals. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany argued that since the Greek government had not yet asked for financial assistance, any discussions about aid were premature, an official said.

Germany, as the European country with the biggest economy, has long been reluctant to take on a role in bailing out countries using the euro that have struggling economies.

“I think it is very important in this context that we discuss questions as they arise,” Mrs. Merkel said at a news conference after the meeting. “Greece has never asked us for support.” She added that “all members of the euro zone say clearly that we are committed to the stability of the euro.” Not only is the prospect of a bailout of Greece politically unpopular in Germany, but there are also concerns that any such arrangement might be challenged in Germany’s Constitutional Court.

In the statement, the European leaders said that Greece’s plan to reduce its deficit by 4 percent of its gross domestic product this year would be monitored by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The first assessment will be completed in March, the statement said.

Despite German reticence about any public declaration, some leaders said that Greece would be bailed out if it became absolutely necessary.

“Greece will improve, and if it needs funds in this process, in the form of cash or guarantees, it will get it,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, which is a member of the European Union but does not use the euro. “There’s no description of the mechanism in the statement, because all parties decided it’s better not to do so.”

Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece made a virtue of necessity. “We haven’t asked for any help,” he said, adding that Greece had collaborated with the monetary fund on technical issues in the past. He said that he detected “strong political support toward Greece” among the European leaders. But there remain major concerns in Germany, among other countries. A poll by the German institute Emnid found that about 7 in 10 Germans opposed financial support for Greece.