February 22, 2012
Barely a day after Germany, Finland and the Netherlands together foisted tough terms on Athens and private Greek bondholders in a €130bn bail-out, their triple-A rated northern European alliance is fraying over whether to increase the size of the eurozone’s €500bn firewall against debt market contagion.
Jan Kees de Jager, the Dutch finance minister who joined his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble on Monday night to force new losses on Greek investors and demanded intrusive controls on Greek aid, has publicly called for the eurozone bail-out fund to be increased to €750bn.
The Dutch government has backed European Commission plans to either keep in place the current, temporary rescue fund – which has about €250bn remaining in it – when a new €500bn permanent fund is launched midyear, or to combine the two funds’ resources. Finland, the third of the triple As, has also signalled its support.
But in two separate Brussels gatherings of European Union finance ministers this week intended to lay the groundwork for a deal at next week’s EU summit, diplomats said Mr Schäuble failed to support the move, despite overwhelming backing by other member states and the European Central Bank.
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