HELSINKI (MNI) – EU finance ministers grappling for a solution to
Greece’s financial woes must avoid debt restructuring or anything that
would constitute a “credit event”, ECB Governing Council member Erkki
Liikanen said Wednesday.
“The risk of expansion of the EMU debt crisis is the largest single
factor affecting economic growth of the Eurozone and Finland,” the
governor of the Finnish central bank told journalists in presenting the
bank’s quarterly bulletin.
The ECB is “not against voluntary restructuring, such as the Vienna
package,” he said. “We would not be against such a package.”
“We call for avoidance of any credit events or selected default”
i.e. debt restructuring, he added.
Asked whether he was worried that the finance ministers were unable
to agree on a solution at their meeting Tuesday, Liikanen said, “I trust
that people in responsible positions will make responsible decisions.”
“The crisis is at the moment in the hands of Ecofin.”
–Antti Kerppola, +358 (0)41 528 2286; antti.kerppola@gmail.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$EC$,M$$CR$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$,MFX$$$]
