Finland Agrees to Share in Greek Bailout Fund
The Parliament of Finland agreed Wednesday to contribute its share to a larger bailout fund for debt-ridden euro zone countries, leaving only seven out of 17 members of the zone needed to ratify the subsidy.
The vote was 103 to 66, with 30 members abstaining, despite an unsettled issue regarding Finland's demand for collateral from the Greek government. Finnish leaders maintained that the issue of guarantee was separate from approving the rescue fund.
But the fund is still considered inadequate to contain additional market troubles affecting Greece and other European countries.
In Slovakia, Parliament Speaker Richard Sulik said a vote on the fund will probably be held Oct. 25, but one party in the ruling coalition was pushing for an earlier vote, The New York Times reported.
Finland continues to negotiate with its European partners regarding the collateral issue and officials voiced confidence that a solution will be found without endangering the rescue.
European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso reiterated Wednesday the need for nations in the euro zone to be united to overcome the present crisis.
The laborious approval process must navigate objections and recommendations from each of the euro zone members.
The New York Times also reported that German leaders tried to ease rumors that they were working on more aggressive solutions to the crisis, such as a system that will multiply the borrowing power of the European Financial Stability Facility.
Euro zone members are under extreme pressure from the U.S., China and other developed nations to attend to the sovereign debt problem before the scheduled conference of G20 members in Cannes, France, on Nov. 3.
These countries are supposed to maintain their budget deficits below 3 percent of gross domestic product and total debt below 60 percent of the GDP. Under the new rules, going above the limit means making cash deposits in an account that pays no interest. This is equivalent to 0.2 percent of the GDP. Failure to curb spending will result in forfeiture of the deposit, according to the report form the New York Times.
Germany will cast its vote on the bailout fund on Thursday while Austria will vote on Friday.