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By Robin Emmott

BRUSSELS – The threat of a credit downgrade to the eurozone’s top economies leaves the bloc’s EFSF bailout fund dangerously exposed, piling yet more pressure on the European Central Bank to step in as lender of last resort.

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The fund has struggled to attract investors even with the backing of six AAA-rated governments, and on Tuesday S&P followed up a warning of possible downgrades for 15 euro economies by saying it is also reviewing the EFSF.

Expanding the lending reach of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), agreed at an emergency summit in October, is central to the eurozone’s plan to show investors it can stand behind its wayward sovereigns.

But much of the fund’s ordinal appeal lay in the top creditworthiness of its guarantors, notable the euro’s main paymaster Germany and France, the EFSF’s second largest contributor.

Even so, appetite for the rescue funds own bonds had waned by its fourth auction last month, while its complex plans to attract nations with big foreign reserves, such as China, to invest in leveraging the fund’s lending capacity met a cool response.