Brussels  - The European Union stands ready to bail out eurozone members in the "unlikely" event that they experience severe financial problems, officials in Brussels said Tuesday.

"In the unlikely event - and I stress in the unlikely event - that a euro area country were to experience financing difficulties, a solution would be found," said Amelia Torres, spokeswoman for EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

Torres was reacting to media reports quoting Almunia as saying the EU had drawn up confidential plans to help euro members at risk of defaulting on their public debt.

But the spokeswoman insisted that such comments were solely designed to "quash speculation" about the financial soundness of some eurozone countries.

The EU, along with the International Monetary Fund and several EU member states, has already mobilized billions of euros in budgetary support to help non-eurozone members Latvia and Hungary cope with the global credit crunch.

And Torres said there was no reason why similar instruments could not be used for eurozone members, if such a need were ever to arise.

Analysts have expressed growing concerns about the situation in Ireland, whose 10-year government spread on German bonds - a measure of investors' confidence - has surged to 2.63 per cent this week. The spread is even higher than that of Greece, which is frequently cited as a country at risk.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs eurozone meetings, has also suggested that the EU would stand ready to help any eurozone country in need. dpa