Eurozone scrambles to overcome Greek aid obstacle

Eurozone governments scrambled Friday to resolve a dispute over Finnish demands for Greece to provide collateral for rescue loans, a condition threatening to hold up a new Greek bailout.
Senior officials from finance ministries held telephone talks, while government sources in Finland said Helsinki still insisted on having collateral in exchange for backing the debt rescue package.
Leaders of the 17-nation single currency area agreed at an emergency summit on July 21 to provide Greece 109 billion euros in new aid, with the private sector pitching in another 50 billion euros.
"We hope for a clarification of all the elements of the integratility of the conclusions of the July 21 euro area summit, including on the issue of the collateral, as soon as possible," Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, told a news briefing.
"It is important in order to restore the confidence on the capacity of the euro area to safeguard its financial stability," he said.
Helsinki and Athens came to an agreement last week on providing Finland, whose contribution to the bailout is estimated to be only around two percent, with cash collateral for its part of the Greek bailout plan. "Finland will insist on collateral, it is still the criteria for supporting the Greek rescue package. This is non-negotiable," a government source told AFP, rejecting reports that Helsinki dropped its demands.