Slovakia

Slovakian Vote on EU Bailout

The Slovakian government is the holdout of the European Union member states to approve the new bailout funds and funding mechanism. The current coalition government in the Slovakian parliament has fractured on the issue. The Slovakian government will likely approve the measures eventually, as is the desire of the majority party, however, members of the coalition have opposed the measure and the opposition party has expressed a support of the spirit of the legislation.

This delay by the Slovakian state on the new European Financial Stability Facility threatens finances of Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain especially and the EU as a whole. Obviously this is undesirable for the entire EU, but definitely for Slovakia since they will likely be pegged with the blame because they are the holdout on the deal. If the debate is prolonged too long, regardless of the finances of other states, the Slovakian state will see increased diplomatic pressure to adhere to the agreement and dissatisfaction with their conduct from big EU players such as Angela Merkel the PM of Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France. The debate has shown the coalition under Iveta Radicova, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, to be relatively weak. If the Smer Party is able to gain seats in parliament or become part of a new coalition through negotiation over the measure then Europe could soon see a change in Slovakian foreign policy to a more pro-EU stance.

Liberal

http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/44178/2/parliament_fails_to_approve_bailout_fund_updated.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/10/2011101121267879589.html

October 12, 2011 at 12:26 pm