HELSINKI: Finland's finance minister stood by her demand for collateral on any future loans to indebted euro zone countries, Finnish public broadcaster YLE reported on Friday.
Earlier this month Finland secured collateral in exchange for new loans to Greece, but only after months of negotiations and criticism from other euro area members.
"We are not going to help new countries or set up new bailout packages without getting collateral. We plan to stick to this principle also in the future," Jutta Urpilainen told YLE according its website.
"The collateral model has been negotiated so that it could basically be adapted also to possible new countries if new crisis countries seek help," she said.
The Finnish government's push for guarantees stems from a demand by Urpilainen's Social Democratic Party, the country's second-biggest political group. It agreed to join the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen on the condition that it stick by its demand for such security on new loans.
Critics said the result was a highly complex transaction that achieved substantial gains for Finnish taxpayers.
A senior member of Katainen's National Coalition party said earlier this month Finland should consider dropping collateral demand in any future bailout packages to secure its reputation.
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