Associated Press | The European Union worked towards stabilizing Spain’s finances Tuesday as it backed up the blueprint for the country’s €100 billion bank bailout plan with plans to grant the country an extra year to cut its budget deficit.

Finance ministers from the 27 EU countries, meeting in Brussels, approved a one-year extension, until 2014, of Spain’s deadline for achieving a budget deficit of 3 percent, said Vassos Shiarly, Cyprus’ finance minister, who chaired the meeting because his country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

The move comes on the heels of an overnight meeting at which the 17 euro area finance ministers agreed on the terms of a bailout for Spain’s troubled banks, saying that the first €30 billion ($36.88 billion) in aid can be ready by the end of this month.

The finance ministers for the 17 countries that use the euro will return to Brussels on July 20 to finalize the agreement, having first obtained the approval of their governments or parliaments, eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker said.