British finance minister Alistair Darling said on Sunday it was important to do everything possible to stabilise the financial markets, but his country would not provide support for the euro.
He was speaking in Brussels where European Union politicians are discussing the possibility of a new European stabilisation mechanism to try to persuade markets that the euro is a stable currency and to stave off another Greek-style debt crisis.
"We need to show again today that by acting together we can stabilise the situation, we do not want to jeopardise the recovery that is slowly taking place. And we will play our part in that," he told reporters. "But when it comes to supporting the euro, obviously that is for the eurozone countries." Britain, a member of the EU, has not joined the euro single currency.