«Give up your gold to get our money!»

The Greek bailout package is developing into a thriller. According to another German voice, that of Ursula von der Leyen, Labour minister and vice president of the country’s CDU party under the leadership of chancellor Merkel, the future costs for the bailout packages of certain Eurozone economies now in danger because of the recession, should be covered by collateral such as gold reserves and state industry bonds.

According to Ursula von der Leyen, “many countries are making great efforts to handle their debts and this should be recognized. In order for them to continue putting their best face forward as they have done so far, there need to be guarantees”.

However, a German state official said that the minister’s views do not reflect those of the entire government.
 
Meanwhile, Finland is ready to reconsider the collateral it has asked for in order to provide Greece with the loan, especially after the fierce reactions from several Eurozone countries.

The Finnish premier Jyrki Katainen said that, “everyone knew that before the guarantees were asked for, the issue was a thin red line for us; we tried to solve the problem and we did it together with Greece. It is a technical solution, though. If it is not possible, then we will have to manage another model”.    

The Scandinavian country announced its agreement with Greece only last Tuesday, but many were the EU countries who opposed it openly.

For the moment, and while the negotiations are ongoing, Katainen estimates the dispute could be solved “within weeks” and dismissed accusations that the collateral his country is asking for is actually endangering the Greek bailout programme.

The agreement between Greece and Finland is based on cash that Greece will deposit into a state Finnish account and which afterwards will be invested into bonds of high value.