Italy's Tremonti, eurozone's Juncker end crisis talks

Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti and eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday wound up talks on Europe's debt crisis with a pledge to continue "meditation in calm". Juncker said: "We had a long discussion visiting all the problems the euro-area is facing." He was speaking after almost two hours of talks as Italy, the European Union's third-biggest economy, faced mounting pressure on the bond market. "We will continue our meditation in calm, Juncker added. "I agree," said Tremonti, adding: "It was a long and fruitful discussion." The talks between the Italian minister and the head of the 17-nation eurogroup of finance ministers followed a dramatic day on the financial markets as Italian and Spanish sovereign debt risk premiums soared to euro-era record high levelss, threatening to ensnare two major eurozone countries in an expanding debt crisis. The eurozone debt crisis has already claimed Greece, Ireland and Portugal, forcing them to seek bailouts from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.