FRANKFURT (MNI) - European Central Bank Governing Council members continue to push for a quick activation of the Greek aid program to calm markets and minimize mounting refinancing costs for Greece.

Meanwhile, the latest comments from Council members Nout Wellink and Michael Bonello playing down price stability risks amid sluggish growth suggest there is not unanimity on the Council over how to interpret the latest inflation readings.

BRUSSELS (MNI) - A package worth up to E45 billion being offered to Greece by Eurozone member states and the International Monetary Fund is not a bailout, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday.

"It is not [a bailout]," Barroso told members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, adding that what policymakers were preparing for Greece is in line with the so-called "no bail-out" clause in the European Union treaty.

BRUSSELS (MNI) - Talks to thrash out the details of an aid plan for Greece could take two to three weeks, but a lot of work has already been done, a European Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"What my colleagues tell me is that usually the talks [of this kind] take between 2-3 weeks," European Commission spokesman Amadeu Tardio told reporters in Brussels.

"There is a convergence in the assessments," he said. "There is already a lot of work that has been carried out and shared."

BRUSSELS (MNI) - Officials hope a delayed meeting to discuss the details of a E45 billion aid package for Greece can take place in Athens on Wednesday, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

Representatives from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund were due to meet officials from Greek government on Monday in Athens to thrash out the details of the aid offer.

But the talks were postponed after a volcanic eruption in Iceland prompted air travel restrictions across Europe.

BRUSSELS (MNI) - Sweden's Riksbank announced Tuesday it will stop offering Swedish banks loans at maturities of three-months and six-months, as it begins to exit from its financial crisis strategy.

FRANKFURT (MNI) - The European Central Bank on Tuesday allotted E70.2275 billion in its main seven-day refinancing operation at a fixed rate of 1.0%.

The ECB satisfied all of the 67 bids received.

Today's operation resulted in a net drain of E349.5 million after the ECB allotted E70.577 billion in its 7-day MRO last week.

BERLIN (MNI) - Foreign exchange rates won't be a major topic of discussion at the gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 and G20 at the upcoming IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, a senior German government official said Tuesday.

"Foreign exchange rates won't be in the forefront of the discussions," the source stressed.

On Thursday evening, the G7 will discuss the state of the global economy, fiscal consolidation and financial market regulation, the official said.

BRUSSELS (MNI) - Sweden's central bank Tuesday left its key policy rate on hold at 0.25%, along with its repo rate forecast, but it revised down its forecasts for growth and inflation this year.

"The repo rate needs to remain at a low level to support production and employment and to attain the inflation target," the Riksbank said in a statement on its web site.