Ministers and ECB split over Greece

EUROZONE ministers pressed ahead last night with plans to make Greece’s private creditors share the costs of a second aid package amid European Central Bank (ECB) warnings that any coercive solutions could unleash a new wave of contagion.

Finnish finance minister Jyrki Katainen said at a meeting with his single currency counterparts in Brussels that some form of private sector involvement was important.

But he echoed the views of his Austrian and Belgian colleagues in stressing that eurozone governments must take care not to unsettle financial markets, already unnerved by the prospect of Greece defaulting on its massive debt pile.