Member States of the European Union plan to withdraw from the future European Stability Mechanism (MES) the possibility of involving the private sector in the financial rescue of a country, said Friday four sources familiar with the matter.
Ongoing discussions are taking place in the broader context of trade reform on the European Treaty, on which Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel agreed Thursday in Strasbourg, it was said the same source.
This does not however affect the participation of banks and insurers in the second EU aid package to Greece, where they pledged to remove 50% of their claims to the country.
"France, Italy, Spain and the peripheral countries are in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are against," said one source.
"(The first) say that Greece is a unique case in terms of private sector participation (…) He felt that if it is a unique case, then do not include in the text (the European Stability Mechanism).