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(Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers rushed Spain into an EU-funded rescue for its debt-stricken banks to pre-empt the threat of a bank run if Greece’s debt crisis flares again but any respite for Madrid and the euro

After weeks of insisting that Spain needed no assistance to recapitalize lenders crippled by bad debts from a burst real estate bubble, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was pushed into requesting an aid package for fear of worse disaster to come, European officials involved in the negotiations said.

The 17-nation currency area agreed to lend Madrid up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) for its bank
rescue fund, more than an initial audit suggests it is likely to need, in an attempt to reassure investors and erect a new firewall in the crisis.

But the euro zone’s latest line in the sand, after bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal since 2010, could be swept away as early as next Sunday by angry Greek voters, rekindling market turmoil that would hit Spain and Italy first.

Rajoy said his reforms had spared Spain a full rescue for its public debt but some analysts say the bank aid may only be a prelude to an eventual bailout of the state.

After less than six months in office, the conservative premier is desperate to avoid that stigma, while other European leaders are just as desperate to avoid the cost, which would stretch the euro zone’s rescue funds to the limit.

Unicredit chief economist Erik Nielsen said once the banks had been recapitalized, “they have basically addressed the three key weaknesses: banks, regions, and structural weaknesses”.

Others are less confident.

“The burden of recapitalizing insolvent banks or loss-making acquisitions of solvent banks will fall on Spanish citizens,” said Karl Whelan, economist at University College, Dublin. “For this reason, this weekend’s announcement may well end up shutting Spain out of the sovereign bond market.”

The euro zone’s fourth largest economy is beset by recession and mass unemployment and still has a weight of national and regional debt to roll over later in the year, although it has got through 58 percent of its borrowing for 2012.

Moody’s Investor Service said last week the debts of euro area sovereigns dependent upon official funding present “non-investment grade risks”, prefiguring a likely cut in Madrid’s credit rating. Fitch Ratings slashed Spain by three notches to BBB last week – just above junk status.

The government still needs to refinance 47.3 billion euros of debt maturing by the end of the year, with a big hump at the end of October, and Spain’s overspending regions have a further 15.7 billion euros of debt maturing in the second half of 2012.

“We’re very close to junk bonds and we’ll end up in the junk,” Jose Carlos Diez, chief economist at Intermoney in Madrid, said on Spanish television.

“In this situation, the key is to look at the reaction of investors a