Dutch, Finnish, German Finance Ministers in euro talks
The Finance Ministers will discuss the state of play in the euro common currency area.
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen will host her counterparts from Germany and the Netherlands in Vantaa Tuesday as they discuss current developments in the eurozone.
According to Urpilainen the talks with the German and Dutch Finance Ministers Wolfgang Schäuble and Jan Kees de Jager are a continuation of deliberations that began at a previous meeting in Berlin.
Analysts expect the discussions by the finance trio to centre on proposals to boost the firepower of the European Union’s permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism or ESM, from its current 500 billion euros to an estimated one trillion euros.
Urpilainen said Monday that Finland does not support increasing the size of the fund. She added that she had outlined the Finnish position at a recent meeting of euro are finance ministers in Cyprus.
“I said at the time that this would require the approval of the Finnish Parliament,” she explained.
The proposal for beefing up the permanent rescue fund involves attaching two leverage vehicles or loan facilities that would allow investors to loan money to the fund on special preferential terms.
Urpilainen speculated that the ESM would enter into force in its current form, since the schedule for agreement on the change is so tight.
“It’s clear that the ESM agreement will enter into force without the leverage vehicles, because it will take effect from the beginning of October,” she added.
The German Federal Finance Minister was also to participate in a parliamentary seminar on the future of the European Monetary Union EMU. Schäuble will also meet with Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen following the seminar.
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