Overcoming Europe's debt crisis will take years, the EU's top economics official Olli Rehn said in a magazine interview published today.

"I do not hold illusions with this situation. It will takes years to overcome the crisis," Mr Rehn, the EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner was quoted as saying in Finnish business weekly Talouselama.

The two-year-long debt crisis yesterday pushed borrowing costs for France and Spain higher and brought tens of thousands of Greeks onto the streets of Athens, while Italy's new government unveiled far-reaching austerity measures.

Reuters