Katainen: No need to strengthen eurozone rescue fund
On Tuesday Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen said that there is no need to strengthen the eurozone's rescue fund despite Standard & Poor's credit rating cut of the fund by one notch to AA+ on Monday.
Speculation has erupted that countries which maintained the highest credit rating may be forced to increase their shares in the fund.
Standard & Poor's gave the highest AAA rating only to Finland, Germany, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
According Katainen, the resources of the fund will be sufficient until the permanent crisis fund enters into force.
Katainen said the idea that only the four countries with the highest credit rating would increase their share is impossible.
It is neither politically wise, nor necessary, he added.
The ESM - the European Stability Mechanism - is a permanent rescue fund that is expected to have an effective capacity of 500 billion euros, based on paid-in capital of 80 billion euros and callable capital of 620 billion euros.
However, details about the structure of the ESM have still not been agreed among all eurozone member states. The original plan was to introduce it in July 2013, but that was brought forward by a year. Now eurozone policymakers are working hard to ensure the ESM can come into effect in just six months' time.
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