Prime Minister Iveta Radičová will lead the Slovak delegation along with Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš at the EU summit in Brussels on December 16-17, the government stated on December 8, the TASR newswire wrote. The Council of the European Union is expected to adopt final decisions vis-á-vis common economic policies and the EU's external relations.
The European Financial Stabilisation Facility (EFSF) – providing nations with the possibility to draw assistance from a €750-billion package – expires next year and EU leaders are currently concentrating on introducing a permanent crisis mechanism that should be applied after 2013, TASR wrote, requiring certain changes to the Treaty of Lisbon. Radičová needs to depart for the summit with a mandate to embark on possible changes to the treaty so she is expected to request from parliament such authorisation, TASR wrote.
Representatives of the 28 EU countries will also discuss the EU Foreign Service which started to operate officially on December 1. It is working in uncertainty, however, as the EU is under the threat of operating under a makeshift budget, TASR wrote.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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