BRATISLAVA, June 20, (WEBNOVINY) — The Slovak Parliament will discuss the draft bill on the European Stability Mechanism in shortened legislative proceedings. The Cabinet decided on this Wednesday. The reason is that the Eurogroup, a meeting of eurozone finance ministers, agreed to inaugurate the mechanism on July 9 this year. By ratifying the mechanism, its members will immediately have to fulfill their related commitments. The rules for participation of Slovakia in the ESM are addressed by this draft bill.
The most important commitment according to the Slovak Ministry of Finance concerns capital participation in the mechanism. The first installment of the subscribed capital of a country must be paid within fifteen days after the framework agreement and the bill come into force in the Slovak Republic. „If the Slovak Republic did not adopt the necessary legislation in the shortest possible time, it could have significant consequences for the international commitments made by the Slovak Republic in the framework of its membership in the euro area. Delayed adoption of the legislation could mean considerable economic damage not only for the Slovak Republic but also to other euro area member states,“ the Finance Ministry justifies the proposal for fast-track legislative proceedings of the draft bill.
The purpose of the ESM Bill is to ensure implementation into national law of all obligations of Slovakia, which it accepted by signing the framework treaty, so that all policies and procedures within the mechanism were fully in accordance with the laws of the Slovak Republic. The framework treaty is a presidential agreement and its execution requires adopting a specific law. This law should be the just submitted ESM bill.
The bill sets out the position of the Slovak Republic in the ESM and defines how it would acquire its capital participation. The Slovak Republic will figure in the mechanism as a shareholder with an obligation to pay its subscribed capital, and it will be represented in the ESM governing bodies.
Slovakia will have to pay the first nearly EUR 132 million in a new capital of ESM within 15 days after the entry into force of the treaty establishing ESM and the law on the European on Stability Mechanism. The Slovak Republic should then pay another nearly EUR 132 million later this year and subsequently pay other three installments in 2013 and 2014 totaling nearly EUR 396 million.
SITA
