Erkki Liikanen: Interview in Süddeutsche Zeitung Interview (edited script) with Mr Erkki Liikanen, Governor of the Bank of Finland, in Süddeutsche Zeitung, conducted by Mr Markus Zydra and published on 7 February 2015. *  *  *  Süddeutsche Zeitung: Mr Liikanen, why did the ECB Council decide to cut Greek banks off from ECB credit?
Liikanen: Greek banks have a counterparty status with the Eurosystem. In January, we communicated that the collateral waiver based on which the Greek government bonds qualify as eligible collateral to Eurosystem refinancing assumes a successful conclusion of a programme review. This could no longer be assumed. So this was a very logical decision, as we have to follow our rules.