European governments moved toward a second rescue of Greece, calculating that the 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) cost of a fresh bailout is a price worth paying to prevent a default that could shatter the euro area.

Finance ministers will weigh the terms of new loans to Greece and a possible contribution by central banks at a meeting today in Brussels. They also aim to start a bond exchange with private investors meant to stave off a Greek bankruptcy next month.

Bondholders' response to the swap, Greece's ability to prolong two years of austerity and a gantlet of parliamentary approvals in northern European countries gripped by an anti-bailout mindset loom as risks to the latest salvage operation.