European Union (EU) leaders agreed to double the bloc's crisis fund in emergency aid to Central and Eastern European members hard hit by the financial crisis, an EU official said on Friday.

The official, who declined to be named, said EU leaders had agreed to raise the ceiling of the EU's medium-term financial assistance facility to 50 billion euros (68 billion U.S. dollars) from the current 25 billion euros.

However, a draft communique to be endorsed by EU leaders said they will keep under review the ceiling of the facility, without giving any specific figure.

It remains unclear what would be the final conclusion.

EU leaders had already doubled the facility, called the crisis fund, in December, designed to help member states outside the euro zone to stabilize their economies. So far, Hungary has drawn 6.5 billion euros from the facility and Latvia, 3.1 billion euros.

Romania has become the latest EU country forced to seek outside assistance due to the financial crisis. It said last week it had asked for help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

With more and more members in Central and Eastern Europe running into financial and economic difficulties, there is a call for the EU to have more funds ready to provide emergency aid. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.73 euro)

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2009)