Europe's leaders today cap their latest effort to check thefinancial crisis that claimed Cyprus this week as its fifthvictim.

Euro-area finance ministers set the stage for today's gatheringin Brussels of the European Union's 27 chiefs, approving Cyprus'sbailout and detailing how they would aid Spanish banks. Consensusbreaks down on safeguarding governments in Spain and Italy, withGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel rejecting calls to do more to cuttheir borrowing costs.

“People have been imagining too many moments of truth over thepast few years, and Europe has been able to continue kicking thecan,” said Sebastian Paris-Horvitz, chief market strategist at HSBCPrivate Bank Suisse in Paris. “The issue today is that indeed theproblem has become much bigger. We are not talking about tinyGreece but big Spain and even bigger Italy.”