BRATISLAVA, October 12, (WEBNOVINY) — President Ivan Gasparovic is to return home from Indonesia on Thursday, the President’s Office confirmed to SITA news agency. The president decided to end his official visit to Indonesia and the Philippines after Tuesday’s vote in parliament, in which the government of Iveta Radicova fell and the deputies did not ratify boosting the EFSF eurozone’s financial rescue mechanism.
The president will be not be able to return sooner than Thursday due to the distance. President Gasparovic left for an official working visit to south-eastern Asia on Saturday, October 8 and originally was to return on Saturday, October 15. Economy Minister for the SaS party Juraj Miskov is in the president’s delegation, too. Shortly after the government collapsed, Prime Minister Iveta Radicova called on SaS leader Richard Sulik and his ministers to resign. They do not see a reason to do so, as Sulik said.
According to the president, Slovakia cannot be a holdout to consolidation of the euro and solving the debt crisis in the European Union. “I am convinced that our senior political leadership will become sufficiently aware of that,” said Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic at a press briefing on September 27, after his talks with visiting German President Christian Wulff.
The Slovak Parliament on Tuesday refused to back the extended eurozone bailout fund EFSF. In the 150-member parliament, only 55 MPs voted in favor of the proposed amendment to the respective treaty, although the vote was connected with a vote of confidence in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova.
SITA