Greece's woes scared countries into action

21. February. 2010

HELSINKI - Greece's financial problems have scared other government into taking action to strengthen their finances, and any talk of a "chain reaction" affecting other countries should be avoided, Finland said on Saturday.

"Greece has been such a hard lesson," Finnish Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen told national broadcaster YLE in an interview. "It has scared political decision makers into taking ... comprehensive actions."

Concern over Athens' ability to repay its debt has shaken confidence in the euro and prompted European Union leaders to pledge they will take coordinated action, if needed, to preserve the stability of the single currency.

The Greek government has said it plans to slash its public deficit from 12.7 percent of gross domestic product to less than three percent by 2012.

Katainen said it was important not to link the problems in Greece with other European countries.

"There has been a fashion in recent days to say that Spain, Portugal and Italy are next in line because they are southern European countries and they have economic worries," Katainen said.

"It is very dangerous to link, via rumors, these countries, who through their own actions can very well get their economies into shape," he said. "This speculation ... has to be avoided."

On Spain, Katainen said: "The market believes that Spain can recover when it takes comprehensive actions, large budget cuts, and I believe that this is still possible."
[Reuters]