DAVID Cameron will today pile the pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to come up with a clear and swift strategy to avoid a collapse of the eurozone.
As European Union officials tried desperately to find a way of rescuing Spain's debt-laden banks, the Prime Minister, who is travelling to Berlin this morning, upped the rhetoric by making clear he had agreed with US President Barack Obama the need for an "immediate plan" to resolve the eurozone crisis.
However, when asked for further details, No 10 simply reiterated the measures Mr Cameron has been advocating for months.
This includes creating an effective firewall to stop the spread of contagion from one country to another, recapitalising the eurozone's banks, sharing the fiscal burden through eurobonds, and creating a supportive monetary policy.
His spokeswoman said the Prime Minister had wanted "decisive action" for some time, and in a transatlantic phone call on Tuesday night had agreed with the US President the "need for an immediate plan to restore market confidence in the eurozone, as well as provide a long-term strategy to secure a strong single currency".
While pressure has been building on Berlin to agree a sharing of debt through eurobonds, it has steadfastly resisted, fearing it would reward indiscipline and place the burden disproportionately on German taxpayers. While plans for a banking union to provide stability across the eurozone are being talked up, such a proposal is years off.
Although decisive action has been urged for months, time now appears to be running out.
Greeks go to the polls on June 17, the G20 meets in Mexico the next day, and later in the month EU leaders gather for their regular summit in Brussels.
Earlier this week, Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, said: "I don't want to sound too alarmist but we are kind of running out of runway here."
While Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy admitted this week that his country was in "extreme difficulty" and its Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro made clear the nation's banks needed financial help, the Madrid Government yesterday was adamant it did not need a bail-out.
On Tuesday, Mr Montoro said Spain, the eurozone's fourth- largest economy, was losing access to credit markets because borrowing costs had risen so high.
Yesterday, however, his colleague Luis de Guindos, the Economy Minister, insisted there was no immediate intention to apply for a bail-out, saying Spain would wait for a banking audit later this month before taking a decision on how to recapitalise its banks.
Ireland repeatedly insisted it did not need a bail-out – only for it to apply for one.
Volker Kauder, leader of Mrs Merkel's parliamentary group, said: "Spain is going to have to make a decision, and it should seek protection from the [bail-out] fund because of its banks."
EU officials were examining the fine print of European treaties to see how Madrid could get money from the eurozone's rescue fund without incurring the stringent economic conditions of a full economic bail-out; anything from €40 billion to €180bn might be needed.
Present rules would suggest only governments and not banks can borrow money from the euro rescue fund but officials were said to be working on a way around this.
Today, a test of Spain's financial credibility will come when it tries to auction €2bn of government debt.
In Frankfurt, the European Central Bank dashed investors' hopes of an easing of monetary policy or another flood of cheap liquidity for banks despite saying that the eurozone money market had again become "dysfunctional". The ECB left interest rates on hold at 1%.
As fears over the banking sector in the eurozone continue to grow, Michel Barnier, the EU commissioner for the internal market, vowed to "break the link" between bank bail-outs and taxpayers' money.
The European Commission unveiled legislation to protect the public, with member states getting the power to impose bank bail-out costs on bondholders.
He said: "Banks should pay for banks. We're going to break the link between the banking crises and public budgets."
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