Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radičová said she cannot give any consent to allocate resources for the European financial guarantee mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), without the approval of the Slovak government and parliament, the TASR newswire reported after her meeting Monday with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
“The former government gave general consent on May 10, but I will respect the European legislation as well as Slovakia’s. At first, I’ll lay out the idea to the government members, then the coalition partners and, finally, to parliament. Only then can Slovakia adopt an official stance,” said Radičová, adding that EFSF will be discussed at a government session on July 14.
EU representatives were expecting Slovakia's signature on the agreement to come by mid-July, readying the €440 billion (the eurozone contribution to the €750 billion rescue package) for use as early as the end of July.
But having the decision passed by the Slovak Parliament does not make such a deadline look feasible. Radičová reiterated her refusal to participate in providing aid to Greece – an earlier package €146 billion package of direct aid to Greece. “We disagree with this aid,” Radičová said.
Slovakia cannot be separated from the rest of the eurozone which is built on solidarity so there is no scope for negotiations, Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers about the eurozone safety net framework on Monday, July 12.
“It would be a bad signal for the markets,” added Schauble, as quoted by TASR.
Slovakia is being represented at the session by its new Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) who said he wants to secure better conditions for Slovakia in the safety mechanism that is designed to provide help to countries that find themselves in financial trouble similar to that experienced by Greece.
Mikloš stressed that he does not have a mandate from the Slovak government to sign the relevant general agreement so he is only able to provide a political promise.
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.
