Finland will pay for Greece

After weeks of talks, Finland has obtained financial guarantees from Greece for its participation in the European Stability Mechanism (the ESM is the permanent mechanism that will shortly replace the EFSF). However, as Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat points out, the country will “pay a high price.” Helsinki will not receive any interest for 20 or 30 years, and will be obliged to hand over its contribution of 1.4 billion euros in one single payment, while other countries will have the option of scheduling theirs over five years. “A good bargain or a bad compromise?” wonders the daily, which notes that the government, under pressure from the True Finns party, had threatened not to participate in the latest Greek bailout.

For its part, Swedish language daily Hufvudstadsbladet remarks that the accord is “a perfect example of economic engineering” that features stiff conditions for Finland, which will deter other countries from backing out of bailout plans in the Eurozone.