Finland calls for more EU transparency to save euro

(VILNIUS) - Finland on Tuesday called for fairer and more transparent decision-making by the European Union as it is battling to resolve the eurozone debt crisis and prevent the eurozone from splitting.

"I believe firmly that we can save the euro but we need more open political discussion because at the same time what we are seeing is also a crisis of democratic legitimacy," said Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.

"We've been forced to take measures in the eurozone and the EU without proper consultations, proper transparency and discussion about the alternatives," he said after meeting northern European counterparts in Vilnius.

Tuomioja, who last month told Europeans to "face openly the possibility of a euro break-up", on Tuesday insisted he believed the crisis-hit 17-member single currency bloc could survive.

"My expectation is that as always -- although it doesn't look nice -- we will manage by the well-tried method of muddling through," the minister said after meeting counterparts from Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.

Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal said solidarity was crucial to prevent Europe from splitting into a stronger north and weaker south.

"The idea of having Europe together is that we try to handle this situation when some countries are in trouble. So no, we are not going to split," he told reporters.

"Europe should stay together. That's critical to the future of all of us," added Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

Of the countries present at the meeting, Iceland and Norway are not members of the 27-member European Union.

Sweden and Denmark are not eurozone members, just like the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia which have however said they hope to adopt the euro by 2014 if the crisis is over by then.