BRUSSELS (MNI) - Eurozone finance ministers have done their work on an emergency mechanism for Greece and the decisions now fall to the EU leaders and heads of state, known as the European Council, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.

"We have done our work in the Ecofin," Lagarde told reporters at a press conference in Brussels. "It's up to the European Council to take the decisions."

At a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers here Monday and Tuesday, the policymakers agreed a mechanism to aid heavily indebted Greece if it is needed, but didn't give details on what form it would take. They said they were leaving the final decision to EU heads of state and government, who will next meet in Brussels March 25 and 26.

Asked about the possibility of a European Monetary Fund, or EMF, Lagarde didn't make a specific comment, but said that "it is important to work at improving our mechanisms and to explore a number of devices," though she added that "it doesn't seem desirable to reform the Lisbon Treaty."

Most EU observers say plans for a longer-term EMF, proposed by German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, based on the same template as the International Monetary Fund, to aid trouble Eurozone members, would require a change in EU rules, as set out in the Lisbon treaty.

Lagarde was speaking in Brussels after a meeting with European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.

"My day today was really focused on how can we improve transparency... how do we deliver on the G20 agenda and how does the Commission prioritise its tasks," she said.

She said there was a need for the European Union to "accelerate" its work on financial regulatory reforms. To make sure that there is a "level playing field for all the actors, it is necessary for all players in the sector to respect the same rules for capital and liquidity," she said.

Better regulation, she said would help "preserve the stability of our monetary union."

The French finance minister also said she wanted to see "an agreement before the end of the Spanish presidency" at the end of June this year on the controversial alternative investment directive, which would see changes in the regulation of hedge funds and private equity.