Eurozone’s rescue fund goes through
The Eurozone’s €440 billion rescue fund is now fully operational, boosting the financial markets’ confid-ence in the future of the euro as Slovakia, which originally botched the deal last Tuesday, yesterday ratified the fund in a second vote by its...
The Eurozone’s €440 billion rescue fund is now fully operational, boosting the financial markets’ confid-ence in the future of the euro as Slovakia, which originally botched the deal last Tuesday, yesterday ratified the fund in a second vote by its Parliament.
Slovakia became the last country in the eurozone to approve an enlarged mandate for the eurozone’s temporary bailout fund. Malta, which will be guaranteeing €400 million of this fund, ratified it last Monday.
The EU immediately welcomed the vote with both the President of the Commission Josè Manuel Barroso and the President of the Europ-ean Council Herman Van Rompuy stating that the EFSF will provide the eurozone with a stronger, more flexible tool to defend its financial stability.
“This is in the clear interest of every one of the 17 member states directly concerned, as well as for the wider European Union,” they said in a joined statement last night.
Parliamentary support in the Slovak Parliament was secured yesterday following a deal with the opposition for fresh elections next March.
In the first vote, the country's largest party – the opposition party Smer – and the second-largest member of the governing coalition, Sloboda a Solidarita (SaS), abstained. As a result, only 55 of the 150 members of Parliament backed the EFSF, triggering the resignation of the government as the resolution had been tied to a vote of confid-ence. Yesterday, Smer, which has 62 members of Parliament, voted in favour, ensuring a clear majority for enlarging the EFSF's funds and enhancing its flexibility.
EU leaders are now expected to meet in Brussels on October 23 to discuss proposals to further boost the stability of the euro area.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese government yesterday presented a 2012 budget with toughened austerity measures to meet the targets set by its international bailout.
“The country is going through a national emergency,” Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho in a televised address after the Cabinet approved the 2012 budget.