Erkki Liikanen: Finland, EMU and euro Speech by Mr Erkki Liikanen, Governor of the Bank of Finland, at the International Bankers' Club, Luxembourg, 1 December 2006. *  *  *  Introduction Finland joined the euro area among the first eleven countries in 1999.
In other words, kicking the can down the road in the most difficult cases – where families are borderline insolvent – is unfair by adding to debt if there is in fact no realistic prospect that the standard forbearance is ultimately going to work.