BRATISLAVA, April 2, (WEBNOVINY)- Speaker of Parliament and leader of the liberal SaS party Richard Sulik admits that his party would no support the new European Stabilization Mechanism in parliament. “It is not certain that we will vote for it,” he stated in the Saturday Dialogues discussion program on Slovak Radio. If the permanent bailout fund fails to go through, Slovakia would face international consequences. However, Sulik argues that the government would save EUR 6 billion, the sum which would remain in taxpayers’ pockets.
“Six million euros is needed in cash and we have to give further money in guarantees in the event of a country’s default. Taxpayers will have to contribute to this sum, Sulik said suggesting that it would be 1,000 euros per capita including pensioners and babies. The SaS agreed with the first rescue fund, which was established a a temporary measure in the form of a guarantee. However it disapproves of the permanent European Stabilization Mechanism as it does not want to bail out the countries which manage their finances irresponsibly, having certainty that there is still somebody around to rescue them.
The opposition’s stance towards the new European Stabilization Mechanism has not been clear yet. SMER-SD Deputy Chairman Robert Kalinak said in the discussion that he wants to study the issue in detail and analyze it. The party of Robert Fico however is critical of the conditions that Finance Minister Ivan Miklos managed to push through in Brussels. Discussions on the permanent bailout fund were kicked off under the previous government but that time said Kalinak representatives discussed only guarantees and not a cash contribution, with which the current proposal counts. Kalinak thinks that the result of Miklos’s Brussels negotiations are much worse than it was before because the cash sum is much higher. He underscored that before the elections the current coalition was against the bailout fund.
SITA