EU will back Portugal if conditions met: Lagarde

Eurozone member states are willing to support a bailout of Portugal but only if the necessary conditions are met, French Economic Affairs Minister Christine Lagarde said Friday.

Lagarde declined to comment on whether Portugal will in fact need help refinancing its debt, calling the situation in one of Europe’s poorest countries a “work in progress.”

“If the conditions are satisfied… European members of the eurozone have clearly indicated and repeated that they would support such member states,” Lagarde told reporters.

“But it has a framework. It’s not just sending cash down the path.”