BRATISLAVA, September 2, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovakia should not be the country that will block the origination of the second European financial stability instrument, said Foreign Affairs Minister Mikulas Dzurinda after talks with his German colleague Guido Westerwelle, who is currently visiting Slovakia. „No better and more effective solution is on the table,“ said Dzurinda and added that we should proceed more responsibly toward our tasks. According to an agreement in the governing coalition, Slovakia would like to have the last word in the euro area in the question of increasing the capacity of the European financial stability package and other documents relating to European stabilization mechanisms, such as increasing powers and flexibility of EFSF. The ruling coalition wants Slovakia to be the last member state of the last in a monetary union to ratify these documents.
Westerwelle emphasized in this connection that Germany cares about how Slovakia proceeds in this matter. „It is very important that we do not get a rejection of stability from European partners. We need a hard currency and hard currency exists only because of competitiveness and discipline in matters of debt,“ said the German foreign affairs minister. He said that not Europe or the euro have a problem, the problem is the lack of budgetary discipline in some member states in the euro area. „I have complete confidence in the European dimension of Slovakia and that not only the Cabinet but also the parliament in Bratislava is aware that we have a common economic fate, and that this depends on the euro,“ said Westerwelle.
The two ministers also spoke talked about Belarus, Ukraine, the situation in North Africa and the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program. They ceremonially opened the school year at a German school in Bratislava. The school was included in the network of schools in Slovakia as a private school with an international curriculum. It is part of the Slovak education system from September of this year.
The ministers will today travel to Poland to their traditional meeting (Gymnich), organized on Friday and Saturday by the Polish Presidency in the EU in Sopot and Gdansk.
On Friday, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic assured German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle who is paying a brief visit to Slovakia that he would do all he can to convince the ruling parties to adopt a “responsible decision” on extending the European Stability Mechanism. At the meeting, the Slovak head of state also underlined the importance of observing the budget criteria. “If euro zone members do not essentially abide by budget criteria, it could significantly endanger the future of the euro,” Gasparovic told Westerwelle.
During their discussion on the future of the euro, Westerwelle said that speculations on “the northern and southern euro zone” are dangerous. He simply believes that all efforts should be made to save the euro zone. The minister also hopes that the ratification of extending the ESM by the German parliament planned for late September could serve as an inspiration to Slovak lawmakers.
Both politicians agreed on the high quality of Slovak-German relations. Gasparovic hopes that planned visit of German President Christian Wulff will confirm this. He also underlined the importance of the two countries’ economic relations, with Germany as Slovakia’s most important economic partner. With a 15-percent share, Germany is also the second largest investor in Slovakia: at the end of 2009 the share of German companies in the country including not invested profits reached 4.752 billion euro. Among German investment programs currently underway, Gasparovic considers planned expansion of Deutsche Telekom, which should create 500 more jobs and extension of the production of car-manufacturer Volkswagen, to be the most important.
After Gasparovic started discussing the issue, Westerwelle also commented on integration of western Balkan countries into the EU: according to him, all of these states show prospects of joining the club, informed the Presidential Office.
SITA