The European Union will not survive if it fails to overcome a debt crisis plaguing the single currency area, the bloc's president Herman Van Rompuy warned today. 'We're in a survival crisis,' Van Rompuy said in a speech in Brussels hours before the euro zone finance ministers meeting. 'We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone, because if we don't survive with the euro zone we will not survive with the European Union,' he said in a speech. 'But I'm very confident we will overcome this,' he added. It is up to Ireland to decide whether the country should apply for a European Union bailout, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said today. He added that he did not think it was needed. 'It is up to Ireland to take a decision on EU aid, but I believe it is not needed,' Bruederle told a news conference after a meeting with Italy's industry minister. Meanwhile, Spain's Economy Minister Elena Salgado has said it is by no means inevitable that Ireland will seek a rescue package, and its debt crisis will be debated by EU finance ministers first. 'In no way will it be considered as an inevitable situation. the Eurogroup has to consider it this evening. The first thing the Eurogroup is going to do is listen to Ireland's opinions and then debate them,' she told the Spanish parliament. She also insisted that Spain would not end up needing its own package. The comments came as Ireland's cost of borrowing crept higher on bond markets. The interest rate demanded by investors to lend money to Ireland for ten years stood at just over 8.3% this lunchtime, up from just under 8.2% earlier.