Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has rejected press reports that the guarantee commitment level of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) will be raised to 2 trillion euros.
“I read in Äripäev that they plan to raise the EFSF level to 2 trillion euros, which for Estonia would mean we would have to raise our guarantees to 10 billion euros, however this will not happen,” Ansip said at the weekly government press conference on October 20.
Parliament voted on September 29 to participate in a Eurozone-wide expansion of EFSF guarantees, which can be used to help out financially-troubled Eurozone members. Estonia's commitment amounts to just under 2 billion euros of the now 780-billion-euro total.
The Äripäev article, published the day prior to Ansip's remarks, was based on stories that appeared in The Guardian and Financial Times Deutschland.
Ansip said that Estonia has clearly spelled out its position that it doesn't agree with any further increase in guarantees.
“I'm quite convinced that the willingness of most Eurozone members to supply additional guarantees has by now run out. Nobody should incite rumors about how our guarantee of 2 billion will become a 10-billion one,” he said.
Steve Roman
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