EU Solidarity Crash: Denmark, Sweden Refuse to Take Part in Greek Bailout

Swedish and Danish finance ministers backed UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who said that EU member states, who are not part of the Eurozone, should not take part in the Greek bailout, Euractiv reported.

"Britain is not in the euro, so the idea that British taxpayers will be on the line for this Greek deal is a complete non-starter. The Eurozone needs to foot its own bill," Osborne said on Tuesday.

The remarks were made in response to Jean-Claude Juncker's proposal to use the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism (EFSM) fund, which all EU member states contribute to, to help Greece.

The EFSM was designed to preserve financial stability in Europe and could transfer emergency funding of up to $66 billion to any EU member state in need. It has been operating since 2010.

Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson commented that Stockholm expects that the EU will stick to the agreement reached in 2010, when British Prime Minister David Cameron made a strong case for not using the EFSM funds to bailout Eurozone countries.

European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis called using EFSM funds "not an easy solution," but promised to provide Britain, Sweden, Denmark and the Czech Republic "guarantees against any negative financial consequence."

The EFSM is not to be confused with the European Stability Mechanism (EMS), an EU agency created in 2012 and aimed at providing financial assistance to Eurozone members.