Slovakia will give financial aid to Greece only if it sticks to loan rules.

By bne IntelliNews November 14, 2012
Slovakia will provide further financial aid to Greece only if the highly-indebted country fulfils its commitments under international aid agreements, TASR news agency quoted Slovak Premier Robert Fico as saying after talks with his Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras in Brussels on Tuesday (Nov 13). Fico admitted that Greece has made some progress, adopting an austerity budget for 2013, which includes a EUR 13.5bn cut in public sector expenditure, but added that it is difficult to convince people in Slovakia, where pensions stand at about EUR 300 per month and salaries barely reach some EUR 500 per month, that they should help other countries via various bailout mechanisms. Regarding information for a proposal to give Greece additional two years to fulfil its agreed terms and consolidate its public finances, Fico said that any delays in meeting the criteria would be expensive. "We must see that Greece is doing its homework or else it will have problems not only with Slovakia but with other countries, too," Fico was quoted as saying. Such a postponement would reportedly require extra EUR 33bn above the current EUR 130bn bailout agreement. The European officials on Monday decided not to release a new loan tranche to Greece despite the tough budget as there was no agreement yet on how to make its debt sustainable. Slovakia, which joined the EU in 2004 and the eurozone in 2009, has repeatedly expressed its discontent about bailouts in the eurozone. It was the only member state that refused to participate in the first rescue package for Greece in 2010.

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