European governments set up a full-time 500 billion-euro ($648 billion) fund to aid debt-swamped countries and, not for the first time in the three-year crisis, expressed confidence that the extra financial muscle won't be needed anytime soon.

Finance ministers from the 17 euro countries declared the European Stability Mechanism operational, while saying that Spain, its biggest potential near-term customer, isn't on the verge of tapping it. Decisions were also put off on Greece's next aid payment and on an assistance program for Cyprus.

Creation of the ESM “makes the strategy of member states credible and equips the euro area with much better tools to appropriately respond to future crises,” Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Luxembourg today before a meeting of euro finance chiefs that began at 5 p.m.