OVIEDO, Spain European Union finance ministers on Saturday urged Argentina to salvage its economy and said they would help by taking steps to boost trade.

The call will form part of a speech Spanish Economy Minister Rodrigo Rato on the EU's behalf to an International Monetary Fund meeting next week, to which Argentina is also invited.

Rato told reporters that his IMF address would clearly emphasise the EU's concern over the economic situation and the bloc's opinion that a deal with the IMF, which committed Argentina to reform, was "urgently needed" for its economy to recover from a protracted slump and parallel social upheaval.

Argentina's economy has not grown since mid-1998 and although IMF officials have praised the country for passing an austere 2002 budget, it says more has to be done to end overspending and restore investor confidence in the economy.

Rato, current chairman of EU finance ministers, discussed the speech with other ministers at a meeting in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo on Saturday.

The EU will urge Buenos Aires to implement a sound and transparent economic framework, make progress towards restructuring its debt, make its banking system water-tight and encourage private investment, Reuters quoted Spanish officials as saying.

"Meanwhile the eu, in collaboration with the IMF and the World Bank, will facilitate mechanisms to increase trade with Argentina as well as...technical assistance to increase trade," Luis de Guindos, Spain's secretary general for economic policy and competition, told reporters.

Meanwhile, European Union finance ministers chose Greece's Lucas Papademos as the next European Central Bank vice president on Saturday, but jilted Belgium abstained and pledged to fight for future posts.

Fourteen of the EU's 15 members backed Papademos, the Greek central bank governor credited with helping his country qualify for prestigious euro zone membership. But belgium, which backed academic Paul de Grauwe, did not go along with the consensus.

France's Christian Noyer steps down as vice president at the end of May, creating the first vacancy on the ECB's Board since its creation four years ago.

The hard-fought decision on his successor, taken at a lunch that dragged on at least an hour over schedule, was another demonstration of the fierce national jealousies at stake in choosing executive board members of the powerful bank that sets interest rates for the 12-nation euro zone.

It could presage even more acrimonious debates ahead when ECB President Wim Duisenberg and Finnish Board Member Sirkka Hamalainen step down next year.

Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said Papademos and De Grauwe were both excellent candidates, but the majority decision to opt for Papademos -- as well as a premature release of the news on the Spanish EU presidency's website -- clearly left a bad taste in his mouth.

Around 7,000 anti-globalization demonstrators braved heavy rain Saturday to march on the northern Spanish town of Oviedo where EU finance and economic ministers were meeting.

Police, who put the turnout at less than 5,000 people, said the march passed off without any major incident. Protest organiszrs estimated a crowd of 15,000.

However, tension was high as the demonstrators shouted out against the heavy police presence of 2,000 officers.

Protesters came from five neighboring towns and met up in a grand rally in the center of Oviedo, in the province of Asturias, AFP reported

Their slogan of the day was: "Against a europe of capitalism and war."

The procession, dotted with acrobats and jugglers, left the railway station in Oviedo, the capital of a region badly affected by the loss of heavy industry.

At the end of the procession, a "pirates' boat" with a euro painted onto the sail together with a skull and crossbones was carried by a group of young protestors, who shouted "Ecofin, Murderers."