After a disputed vote on the deal with the creditors, the parliament in Athens opened the way for a third bailout package for Greece, whose purpose is to avoid the bankruptcy of our southern neighbor. Yet this is far from overcoming all obstacles in a marathon that has just started. Upcoming is not only the approval of the rescue program by the national parliaments of Finland and Germany, as political observersare reluctant to make predictions about its outcome. On Monday Greece must repay 3.5 billion euros to the European Central Bank (ECB) and by Friday it has to figure out a way for emergency aid for Greek banks. It seems that this assistance will be guaranteed by the EU general budget. It is precisely this bridge financing that has turned into a bone of contention in today's telephone conference of the EU finance ministers. According to unofficial data,a proposal has already been prepared for the participation of all EU countries. However, not all EU Member States outside the Euro area are eager to help debt-stricken Greece.

The UK known for its reserved attitude even to its own membership in the EU has taken a firm stand against London’sparticipation in the rescue plan for Greece. Not so sharp, but defending the same position are Sweden and the Czech Republic. "We are categorically against the reactivation of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSM)", said Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. The logic is clear – let the Eurozone pay its bill on its own since there are no warranties that Greece would be able to repay its loans in the future. At first, it comes to 4.2 billion euros that Athens must return by the end of the year. This money is the subject of the urgent talks held by Eurozone finance ministers, who are seeking today a compromise agreement on transitional funding for the next three months, before the new rescue program for Greece starts.

Before the start of the talks the European Commission confirmed that it would demand from the nine countries outside the Euro area, including Bulgaria, to participate in the rescue of Greece by a guarantee for an emergency loan. "Due to the apparent lack of better solutions the only option remains the European Financial Stability Facility", argues the European Commissioner in charge of the common currency, Valdis Dombrovskis. This mechanism was created at the beginning of the debt crisis and was not planned to be used any longer. In the words of his boss Klaus Regling, the EFSF has available money from the EU budget, which can serve as a guarantee of immediate payment of Greece. To use these funds, however, the vote of all 28 countries is required.

Bulgaria has not yet sent its official position on the issue, but several times in recent weeks, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov saw good opportunities to comment on the way the EU is trying to resolve the Greek crisis. Besides voicing annoyance at the fact that the EU only deals with Greece and ignores the problems in other EU countries, at the European Council meeting at the end of June, Borissov was very clear on the question of who should rescue Greece: "If we were now in the Euro area, we would have to give money to Greece. And the poorer will give the richer, I did not see any sense in this."  Borissov did not miss the opportunity to praise his cabinet for the strict financial discipline and even gave recommendations to the Euro area: "Until the euro area countries get more discipline, I see no point for our country to rush into membership." However, whether his reaction will be so severe now when there is a real opportunity for the Bulgarian budget to guarantee for the Greek solvency, yet remains to be seen. Let us not forget that the EU still has a plan "B" – the veto against the loan for Greece can be circumvented by a qualified majority vote of only 15 financial ministers representing countries with 65 percent of the bloc’s total population.

English version: Rossitsa Petcova