Europe’s challenges in stemming the debt crisis were underscored by snags over collateral to underpin Greece’s rescue loans and German objections to altering European treaties.
European finance officials are unlikely to reach a collateral deal today in their monthly meeting to clear the way for Greece’s next 109 billion-euro ($151 billion) package, Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said.
“We’re going to negotiate about it, but unfortunately I don’t see that we can find a solution” today, Urpilainen told reporters before the meeting in Wroclaw, Poland.
After a call to action last night by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, the 17 euro finance ministers were braced for a dressing-down from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, invited to the gathering by the host Polish government.
The stewards of the 9.5 trillion-euro economy must “do more to earn the confidence of the world, that they have the political will to do this,” Geithner said on Sept. 14.
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