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August 19, 2011 at 09:05 AM
After a Greek-Finnish agreement earlier this week under which Athens would provide collateral in exchange for Finland’s share of its rescue package, other nations are clamoring for collateral as well. That could unravel the whole deal.
That’s because Greece has said it is not discussing such arrangements with any other nation because the nation says such talks would cancel the bailout agreement. Still, several participants are expressing reluctance to proceed without collateral, although demanding it could defeat the purpose of the rescue.
The meeting of euro zone officials in July to put together an agreement to bail out Greece for a second time had allowed for a collateral agreement as well, according to a Reuters report, that could be put in place “where appropriate.” That collateral agreement was addressed in a briefing by European Commission (EC) spokesman Amadeu Altafaj, who said the group was discussing the agreement.
He was quoted saying, “The euro member states will have to assess the outcome of this bilateral discussion between Finland and Greece…. Discussions are already taking place. And therefore we have no further comment at this stage but the issue is already being examined.”
