No agreement exists, the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party wrote after a meeting between the chairman of its parliamentary caucus, Jozef Kollár, and Prime Minister Iveta Radičová from the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) that was held on the evening of September 28, the SITA newswire reported.
Kollár met with Radičová on behalf of his party as part of the series of meetings that the prime minister has initiated regarding the vote on approval of the European mechanisms with the aim to find a compromise that would not block the approval by other eurozone countries and would not cost Slovak taxpayers anything, SaS wrote, adding that it would not discuss details of the talks until they come to an end.
"At this moment, no agreement exists," SaS wrote. However, when responding to a question from the TA3 news channel whether it looks like an agreement can be reached, Kollár's answer was yes.
The governing coalition must move quickly to find an agreement, SITA wrote. Although the Speaker of Parliament, Richard Sulík (from SaS), originally planned a vote after October 24, the prime minister and Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš (SDKÚ) think that is too late because EU leaders are scheduled to meet on October 17.
SITA reported that Radičová said she cannot leave for Brussels without a mandate and stressed that regardless of which reply she presents in Brussels she must have the answer before the summit.
Juraj Miškov, a SaS deputy chairman and the country’s economy minister, told the Sme daily that Radičová had come with a compromise that is acceptable to SaS since it would not cost Slovak taxpayers a single cent. But he said he did not want to elaborate on details because the party had agreed with Radičová to remain silent about details.
Source: SITA, Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
