The European Council on Foreign Relations

Slovakia votes: more freedom, less solidarity?

Date: 11th October 2011  |  Author: Jana Kobzova ,

Categories: Euro Crisis, Reinventing Europe,
Tags: eurocrisis, eurozone , eurozone, greece, vote, slovakia

For many, the Slovak government that emerged in the last year’s election was the dream team the country had long waited for. Consisting of the four centre-right parties and staffed by many of the reformers who turned Slovakia from the central European laggard of the 1990s into one of the fastest growing new EU member states, the hopes were high last year that the country would become continue on its stellar path.

But twelve months down the line, the government is on the brink of collapse. The main reason is the Slovak parliament’s vote on the extension of the EU bail-out fund. The country is the last out of the Eurozone members to decide whether to agree with the expansion of the Fund’s resources. In more than a year in government, the ruling parties managed to find consensus on the reform of the justice system and social security system. They even agreed on drastic austerity measures needed to get the public debt under control. Yet they now struggle to agree on what to do with the EU bail-out fund.

The vote is taking place later today but the government doesn't have enough votes to pass the bill. One of the ruling coalition parties, Freedom and Solidarity, refuses to support the bail-out fund. Their position is based on the argument that in principle, poorer Slovakia shouldn't bail-out richer Greece (it is hard not to miss the irony in the party’s name). The opposition, led by centre-left Smer party refuses to vote ‘yes’ unless all the coalition parties do the same.

The talks about possible compromise between the four parties that form the government collapsed yesterday late night. Today, the Prime Minister Radicova announced she would link the vote in the parliament with the vote of confidence, hoping to push its junior coalition partner Freedom and Solidarity to give up its opposition to the EU bail-out fund and vote yet. This may prove impossible; Freedom and Solidarity party (FaS) was established only in 2009 and this is their first term in government. Most party members are fans of Hayek and the Vienna economic school, preferring to stick to their principles. Such commitment to principles isn’t very usual in Slovak politics and is not entirely unwelcome, except for the fact that now it threatens to bring down the government. FaS argues that Slovak would have to borrow to put into the EU bail-out fund will be wasted since Greece would collapse anyway, refusing to acknowledge that the Fund seems to have worked in the cases of Portugal and Ireland.

The latest news from Bratislava is that the FaS party announced they would not support the bail-out fund even if it is linked to the vote of confidence. Few in Bratislava dare to guess the outcome of the today's vote, including the members of the Freedom and Solidarity party members. If the government collapses, we may see a new one led by centre-left opposition - however, in this case, the bail-out fund may not be approved in time before the EU summit. That does not mean that the other Eurozone countries will not go forward and put in place the measures needed to half the Eurozone crisis. What it means, though, is that Slovakia may end up with lots of freedom but no solidarity from other member states.

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