Part of the deal being offered by government coalition party SaS to its three coalition partners in return for its votes on the new EFSF bailout rules is to draw up an addendum to the Coalition Agreement by which they would agree not to support the EFSF’s successor, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
Daily SME managed to get a copy of the proposed addendum and published it on its website, with the key part of the text reading: “The coalition parties are against participation of Slovakia in the ESM. If Slovakia rejects it, it would not block the other countries as only 95% of the capital is required for it (ESM) to be approved”.
Slovakia has become a bit of a black sheep in the eurozone, refusing to provide Greece with a loan, almost holding up the whole EFSF (still a possibility if the coalition doesn’t agree with the SaS proposals), and now wants to make Slovakia exempt from paying its dues in the ESM. Time till tell just how the rest of Europe views this approach, but even now Slovakia is being viewed as a bit of a thorn in the side.