Greece's new €109 billion bail-out came closer to unravelling on Monday amid a growing dispute over a side deal struck between Finland and Athens, with the Dutch government questioning the arrangement's legality and a leading credit rating agency warning it could undermine all eurozone bail-outs.
The Greco-Finnish collateral deal, reached last week between the countries’ two finance ministers, would force Athens to deposit millions of euros in cash into an escrow account, as insurance that Greece would not default on Helsinki’s portion of the rescue. But the deal – tacitly allowed by eurozone leaders at their emergency summit last month – has reopened the debate over the entire bail-out, with some countries, including Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia, insisting they want similar deals.
The most strenuous objection came on Monday from the Netherlands, which had originally said it might also push for a collateral deal if the Finnish plan was approved. A Dutch veto could halt the entire bail-out, as all 17 eurozone countries must approve the both the Greek rescue and the Finnish side deal.
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