Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš's meeting with EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn in Brussels on Tuesday, September 7, showed that the European Union is not accepting the Slovak government's decision to not participate in a bilateral loan to Greece with a bilateral loan and the EU will likely try to change it, the TASR newswire reported.
Slovakia’s parliament in August refused to provide €807 million, a sum that represents 1 percent of the financial assistance package for Greece of €80 billion. Slovakia has faced criticism from Brussels for its refusal.
“We've had a constructive dialogue. We discussed various views of the same situation in Europe, on solidarity in Europe. We need to continue to stabilise the eurozone, because we still don't have the worst behind us. So, member states need to comply with their commitments and show solidarity with other countries, also when it comes to the euro,” said Rehn, as quoted by TASR.
“We've agreed that we have different stances on the loan to Greece. I informed Commissioner Rehn that the Slovak government's stance is unchangeable and definite. It can be expected, however, that the Euro Group and the European Commission will want to raise this issue and I'm not ruling out pressure on Slovakia, either. But I'll tell the Euro Group ministers about Slovakia's unchangeable and definite stance,” said Mikloš.
Mikloš said that Rehn did not mention any possible political consequences for Slovakia, adding that the only way to reverse the decision would be to re-submit the proposal to the Slovak Parliament.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
8. Sep 2010 at 10:00
