BRATISLAVA, August 23, (WEBNOVINY)- Slovakia wants to be the last country to vote on the issue of increasing the capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and further documents on stabilization mechanisms, for example on extending the bailout fund’s powers and flexibility. It is the wish of coalition leaders who met with Prime Minister Iveta Radicova over the issue on Monday. Based on their plan, Slovakia should ratify these documents as the last country of the euro club.
“The Slovak Republic will start the ratification of these documents as the last country of the euro zone. We will use the acquired time for further discussions and negotiations and mainly to clarify Slovakia’s positions and the basic conditions of the ratification formulated by the country at the beginning of the process,” said the prime minister after the talks.
Also, the toughest opponent of the bailout fund, SaS leader Richard Sulik, is satisfied with the adopted solution. He perceives it as a very good decision, as he sees no reason why Slovakia should be first and rush into the situation, which he believes is not advantageous for the country.
Nevertheless, Sulik insists that he has not changed his mind and would welcome if some euro zone country stopped the extension of the bailout fund before Slovakia makes its decision. He, however, admits that the postponement of votes on the bailout fund has created more room for further debates. Coalition leaders have not agreed yet when the bailout fund could be on the parliamentary agenda.
The prime minister says that the aim of the talks is not to change Sulik’s opinion but to find a relatively better solution. According to her, they will seek to find a consensus and agree on a joint procedure in the issues of the euro and euro zone functioning. The decision to debate the ratification of bailout fund documents as the last euro zone country also opens space to discuss conditions that Slovakia finds to be crucial. One of them is collateral on the Greek bailout that has become a problematic issue recently. The Slovak Republic claims since the beginning this is its basic condition for ratifying the documents, said the prime minister.
SITA