Europe

Europe

Eurozone collateral issue to be solved soon: EU president

05 September 2011 23:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said here on Monday that he was confident there would soon be an agreement between Finland and the rest of the eurozone over the issue of collateral for loans to Greece, APA reports referring Xinhua.

"Good progress is being made and I’m confident we will find an agreement soon," he told reporters.

Finland hammered out a deal with Greece last month, regulating Greece to provide financial guarantees in exchange for Finnish participation in the bailout deal struck during the eurozone summit on July 21.

However, this agreement has prompted other eurozone countries to ask for similar treatment.

"We have to find a solution that is suitable to everybody... suitable for Finland and suitable for the other creditors," said Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen after meeting with Van Rompuy.

The main aim of Van Rompuy’s visit to Helsinki was to follow up the package of measures agreed on the eurozone summit in July.

"We need now to implement this package as a matter of priority,"

Van Rompuy stressed.

"The credibility of the euro area and of each of its member states

is at stake," Van Rompuy said, noting the gloomy economic situation in the eurozone.

Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen was scheduled to visit Berlin

on Tuesday for talks with her German and Dutch counterparts.