Slovak parliament gave the green light yesterday to the 2012 budget, despite various objections and disagreements between parliamentary parties.
The budget passed the vote thanks to a tactic employed by opposition party of Robert Fico, Smer-SD, which in a kind of “nothing to do with us” move, had just enough MPs absent from the vote so that the rest of its MPs could vote against the bill, while knowing it would still be passed thanks to a simple majority.
In the end 75 of the 133 present MPs voted in favour of the draft budget, which plans a public administration deficit of 4.6% of GDP in 2012 to reach EUR 3.675 billion, compared to the optimistic 3.8% that was originally set. The difference will mean a EUR 350 million deeper deficit than planned, thanks to higher expenditures.