Barroso values total EU aid for Greece at EUR 380bn

(STRASBOURG) - European Commission boss Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday that the total value of aid to financially-stricken Greece will total 380 billion euros, or half a trillion dollars.

"We have put together a very ambitious programme of support, unprecedented support, for Greece," Barroso told lawmakers during a debate on the economy at the European Parliament sitting in France.

All elements taken together, Barroso said the value of the bailout would be "380 billion euros."

This sum would comprise some 40 billion euros of routine EU finance from 2007-2013, 100 billion euros by way of private-sector debt written off by investors and 240 billion euros in special bailout loans and aid from eurozone or EU partners as well as the International Monetary Fund.

That would equate to 33,600 euros for every one of the some 11 million Greek population and 177 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

"You are not alone," Barroso said of EU solidarity towards Greece.

"We believe Greece can have a good result," he added, "If everybody commits."

Barroso's EU civil service has a team on the ground in Athens and is trying to re-direct funds Greece is entitled to claim from the EU budget for development aid towards job creation and economic growth.

Greece was first bailed out in May 2010 when it could no longer raise funding on the financial markets because investors feared they would not be repaid given the country's massive 350 billion euros debt mountain.

A second bailout was put into effect earlier this year.