Finland has made a deal with Greece about a debt collateral in cash. Other countries which offered emergency loans were dismayed by the Finnish move. While Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager is in Berlin for talks with his German and Finnish counterparts, fantasies are beginning to run riot at home. 
An island here, an airport there…

Arjo Klamer, Professor of Cultural Economics at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University, is in favour of some form of collateral:

“It would be nice if Greece offered Dutch people cheap holidays as collateral. That would stimulate the Greek economy. There would be advantages for everyone. A real win-win situation.”

Professor Klamer does point out, however, that debt guarantees are actually absurd. “It’s a false form of security that’s on offer.”

Crete is out
Jorgos Mikolidakis of the website De Griekse Gids.nl (The Greek Guide) has a good idea what people are thinking about: an island, preferably Crete, which is by far the most popular with Dutch people. This year 112,500 Dutch people spent their holiday there.

“I don’t think Greece will agree to that, Crete is actually a super island. That’s because of its location. Crete is in a strategic position for the whole of Europe. It’s where Europe, Asia and Africa meet. It’s no coincidence that NATO is stationed there. The NATO raids on Libya took place from Crete. It’s just really, really important. I don’t think it can serve as collateral. Absolutely not.”

Harald Bennink, Professor of Financial Markets at the University of Tilburg, thinks it’s all nonsense.
“This whole to-do about collateral should never have happened. It’s highly unlikely that any such thing will ever be agreed.”

In Berlin, the Finnish deal is under discussion: either it’s scrapped or the other contributing countries should get the same guarantees.

A second airport for Amsterdam
Jorgos Mikolidakis continues to fantasise:

“What could happen is that the Greeks offer an airport as collateral. I can imagine that. The airport in Iraklion would be very nice, for example. It’s in a great spot, you’re close to Asia and Africa. Perhaps Amsterdam's Schiphol airport could do something with it. Make it Schiphol 2, for instance. The Dutch are real entrepreneurs, they could turn it into a goldmine.”

War for a rock
Daphne Matziaraki, a journalist from Sky Media House in Greece, jolts us back to reality. “Greece would never allow that. The country would be up in arms. No Greek would ever want to give away one of our islands. Perhaps a large energy company could serve as collateral. But an island? No way!”

There are protests going on at the moment because of a recent sale of coastal land in Athens to Qatari authorities. Developers have plans to turn the section of land on the coast into a park with hotels.

“We nearly waged a war with Turkey because they were claiming a Greek rock in the sea was theirs. Imagine what would happen if the Netherlands demands an island,” exclaims Ms Matziaraki.

(imm, jn/rk)