BRUSSELS/BRATISLAVA, June 23, (WEBNOVINY) — To connect the issue of indebted Greece with an introduction of general stabilization mechanisms is a big mistake, according to Prime Minister Iveta Radicova. As she told journalists on her way to the European Council meeting in Brussels, today is not primarily about Greece, but about resolving the debt crisis hitting other European countries, too. According to Radicova, if Europe had a system like the European Stabilization Mechanism earlier, the Greek situation would not have arisen.
The prime minister went on to say that it is high time for the euro zone to stop turning to the U.S. or the International Monetary Fund with its problems. “The old continent should long ago have arrived at this solution, as then it would not have been possible for Greece to become a euro zone member. If we took criteria seriously, Greece would not have crept into the euro zone fraudulently, the consequences of which we see here today,” she said. Radicova further said that the issue of Greece and a new bailout fund have to be separated. She emphasized that the Slovak government does not want to spend a single cent in vain.
The position of the Slovak prime minister is obstructed by the position of the second strongest coalition party, the SaS, which rejects Slovakia’s participation in the new bailout fund, as well as increasing the guarantees in the first bailout fund. “It is a serious problem, politics is about negotiations,” Radicova commented.
The prime minister went on to say that increasing the capacity of the temporary stabilization mechanism is a commitment that Slovakia made upon first entering it.
With regard to Slovakia’s involvement in the permanent European Stabilization Mechanism, the prime minister’s position is clear. Setting up the mechanism is inevitable, she said, as it is to deal with controlled defaults and prevent uncontrolled defaults, too. “I am convinced we have to have such an instrument. We cannot keep turning to the United States. That is not sustainable in the long-run,” she said, adding that it will be important to define the process of regulated defaults.
SITA