Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Slovenia: EU bail-out ratification in danger

  • Slovenia's Adriatic seafront: The ratification vote 'could be a problem' Raflak said (Photo: robertivanc)

Slovenian MPs can still vote on the second Greek bail-out and beefed-up euro rescue fund, the EFSF, despite the fall of the government, but getting them to vote Yes "could be a problem."

Barbara Reflak, foreign policy advisor to centre-left caretaker prime minister Borut Pahor, who was defenestrated in a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, told EUobserver on Wednesday (21 September) that parliament will still vote on the measures as planned on 27 September.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

She added that a positive result is far from a safe bet, however.

"When the finance committee met yesterday [to vote on the measures], it was very tight. They got through by seven votes pro and six against ... We already had a minority government and the whole opposition is against it," she said.

Noting that Slovenia is cutting pensions in its own austerity plan, she went on: "It's very hard for MPs and ordinary people to understand why we have to make cuts in our own budget and on the other hand we are giving a second bail-out to Greece. And we keep reading in the papers that they don't conform to [austerity] programmes."

"The government says we need a stable eurozone and that this is in Slovenia's interest. That's our message, but it's a difficult one to promote right now. It [the vote] could be a problem."

The latest scare for markets watching whether the EU will get its act together on the financial crisis comes after Pahor lost the confidence vote by 51 to 36 amid discontent over pensions reforms and corrruption allegations.

The development immediately saw Slovenian bonds become more pricey compared to German ones and the country's stock exchange, the Sbitop, drop almost one percent.

The likely new leader, who could take over in snap elections in December, centre-right politician Janez Jansa, has in the past said the Greek bail-out "isn't fair" because Greek workers earn more than Slovenian ones.

Slovenia - together with Austria, Finland, Malta and the Netherlands - is also seeking Greek collateral for any fresh loans, further complicating the ratification process, which requires all 17 eurozone members to pass the measures before they enter into life.

The Slovenian scare comes on top of problems in Austria, where the parliament's finance committee has delayed the EU bail-out bill, and Slovakia, where a junior coalition partner has come out against it.

This story was changed at 12pm Brussels time on 22 September. The original version said the no confidence vote was "over pensions reforms and corruption allegations." In fact, the technical reason was the appointment of five new ministers. But the pensions and corruption issues contributed to the result

EU finance chiefs cool on Geithner plan for eurozone

A unprecedented visit by US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to a meeting of European finance ministers in Poland was coolly received by the gathered European economy chiefs, while the meeting itself saw little advance made on how the eurozone can deal with its ever-deteriorating debt crisis.

EU supply chain law fails, with 14 states failing to back it

Member states failed on Wednesday to agree to the EU's long-awaited Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive, after 13 EU ambassadors declared abstention and one, Sweden, expressed opposition (there was no formal vote), EUobserver has learned.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us