BRUSSELS — Eurozone finance ministers will lock horns today over how to fight their crippling debt crisis, which some fear could push Portugal to need a bailout and spread to infect the region’s larger economies.

At the center of talks in Brussels is the region’s $1 trillion bailout fund, set up last spring to convince financial markets anxious over some countries’ mounting debt that the euro currency is safe.

The European Union’s executive Commission — supported by the head of the European Central Bank and some finance ministers — has said the fund needs to be given more money and powers to quell any concerns that it could be overwhelmed if a big economy like Spain runs into trouble.

But Germany, the eurozone’s economic powerhouse, has so far ruled out any substantial increase of the fund’s size.

Most analysts say the eurozone’s current strategy to deal with the crisis has failed. That approach sees countries bail out their struggling banks to then provide them with expensive rescue loans, conditioned on steep budget cuts, when they run out of money.

A €bailout of Ireland — necessary after massive capital injections for big banks pushed the country’s budget deficit to almost one-third of economic output — didn’t succeed in containing the crisis. Most economists expect Portugal to also ask for help soon, while markets are worried about the financial health of much larger Spain.