Slovakia says "nie" to the euro bailout

outsider

The people speak. No doubt they will soon be muzzled again.

stopcpdotcom

They will agree when the right palms have been greased.

Boudicca

What a shame it wasn't the Dutch or Finns who said NO. But well done to little Slovakia for standing up to the bullies in the EU/ECB.

So much for Barosso, Rumpuy, Sarkozy and Merkel's attempt to railroad the other Eurozone countries into their financial transfers to Greece. The Euro is a complete and utter failure - as many predicted it would be.

Time to put it out of it, and our, misery. The French and German banks who overlent to Greece should be forced to take the hit.

I hope the Euro implodes and the EU with it. It would be worth the pain to get our country back.

Dimoto

The US has it's blind spot towards Israel, and Europe has it's blind spot towards Greece.

Greece the "foundation of European civilisation", "Greece the inventors of democracy", Greece which must not be criticised, Greece, which doesn't need to obey the rules, Greece which is a "special case".

Slovakia won't be granted a Spanish, Irish ... or Greek type Euro bounty, what do they get out of the deal ?

Bukula Benar

The Slovak word for 'no' is 'nie', not 'ne'.

Gennaro C

Slovakia is a tiny economy but is a great example of sustainability. Maybe we should listen to them carefully rather them criticising their opposition to the bully Germans and French...

Jamie B

The Slovakians would seem to have a point. Why should they bail out the Greeks?

Luboš Motl

I have watched the whole negotiation of the Slovak Parliament - over 10 hours in total - here from Pilsen, Czechia. Some of the deputies are immensely euro-naive (we're in the best-of-best club, they say and they mean eurozone, not realizing that non-members such as Norway and Switzerland are doing better), many of them were euro-realists. The prime minister Ms Radičová showed an immense amount of naivite and poor strategic planning: it was very clear that the only thing she could achieve was her resignation. SaS of Mr Sulík made their plans and spine very clear in advance. Also, social democratic populist Fico was sure to vote for EFSF later so it will pass, anyway. Disappointing to see that one of the most responsible and functional government of Europe is torn down just because of an insane fund meant to sustain the most atrocious and irresponsible governments of Europe: the EU has introduced natural selection upside down. What a shame. This was just another story of this kind and I want to leave the EU after this one - the last droplet. By the way, "ne" is our Czech word for "no" but Slovaks have used "nie" for quite some time haha.

Graphite

Will Slovaks become known as "the Knights who said Ne"?

Hexhamgeezer

They will be required to vote again and get it right next time. Meanwhile Brussels will discover some cash that will find it's way to Bratislava.

Tony

Congratulations to those Slovaks who stood up to the eu petty dictators unlike the eu obsequious lackeys in the other member countries.

May your vote be the start of the downfall of the euro and the eu dictatorship and send them to the deepest pits of hell never to emerge again.

David Ossitt

Yippee.

Annie

They should be voted OUT of Euro Zone. They say 'yes' when is their turn to take EU money, They say 'No' when is time to help. Get rid of this small silly country.

David L

Let's not get too excited. The unwritten rule is that the Slovaks will have to vote again - until they get the "right" result. This is democracy in action.

Heartless Perry

A Government and party holding right Principles?

(O that we had one in the UK.)

The H2B should send a congratulatory telegram at once.

Frank Sutton

Go to a lot of pub quizzes, do you Daniel? Here's a question to bear in mind for years to come - which country shamed its bigger neighbours by standing up to the EU, and thus precipitated the fall of the Euro and eventually the EU itself?
Clue - it's not Slovenia!
Well, I'm still an optimist.

Augustus

Slovakia will say 'ano'. Want to bet?

Stan

Only Slovaks had courage and made the thing that none of the others could.
They screamed: "The king is naked!"

Rebel Saint

Of course, their vote means nothing in the long run. Getting "approval" is merely a sop to appear democratic.

All that's needed to sidestep this inconvenience is to re-name the EFSF to the FSFE and then it's business as usual. After all they voted "Ne" to the EFSF not the FSFE didn't they?!

Biggestaspidistra

No problem. Keep asking them til they say yes.

Verity

Boudicca: "I hope the Euro implodes and the EU with it. It would be worth the pain to get our country back."

You are correct. But why should we be forced to wait until the euro implodes when we are not in the euro and no one in Britain voted to be part of the EUSSR?

I heartily look forward to the day the EUSSR implodes and all the euro-squillionaires who accumulated strings of zeros in their fantasy portfolios realise that all that's retained its true value on the international money markets is the zero.

Praguetory

You've confused Slovakia for Slovenia yourself in the article. Lol.

Liz Brown

HURRA for the Slovaks. The vote, however, makes no difference as it has been decided that the Greeks will get the funds regardless of the fact that the criteria have not been met (and just how much did the farcical Troika cost?) and the Slovaks get to vote again till the EUSSR gets the right answer. I hope the Slovaks vote No again and again and again.............

slovak

to DANIEL KORSKI: at least you suppose to findout the right word for ,,NO,, in slovak lang.

jazz606

The sensible thing would be to dismantle the uro in an orderly fashion; the longer this is left undone the harder it will be. Of course it won't be done, and I fear we're headed for a mega european style replay of the events of 26 September 1992 (White Wednesday)....the run up to which will be spectacular to say the least, and may overshadow the Olympics (Oh well, every cloud........).
It is fitting that one of the leading players in the ERM fiasco, Norman Lamont is advocating orderly de-structuring of the uro, he should know. Drawing further on the ERM parallel, it was astonishing how much damage the Major govt was prepared to inflict on the country just to protect a totally impractical political idea, european leaders are doing the same.
Well 1992 was a side show the main event is yet to come.

RR_slovak

1) Lubos - if you would follow the past speeches of our PM and other members of parliament whom you refer to as euro-naive you would find that they in fact are very euro-skeptical.
2) if PM would not ask to connect the confidence vote with the euro bailout proposal, the government would stay in power, euro bailout would be refused and there would be no way out.
3) many of us really question why should we increase our VAT to pay for debt in country where people get 3x higher pensions. But that's not a mainstream. The rest of us believe in euro and want to help. All that we demanded was to work on better solution. What we do here is the least effective and most expensive solution of them all.
3) Annie - that's not the right way to look at it. You would do better to listen to the other side. We will get the proposal passed tomorrow. But start question your leaders. It won't make you euro-skeptic, just a bit more intelligent. Since we are a small country, we get an adequate amount of vote in the parliament. that's democracy.

alexsandr

Mebbe they remember being bullied in 1939. Oh, who was that by???

Nickle

Slovakia the greatest problem?

Which planet are you on?

The problem is debt, debt and more debt. Government debt resulting from politicians out of control.

Lubo from SVK

It is funny, how suddenly Slovakia's "no" is the main problem, not the debt, the Greek's fraud with account numbers entering the Eurozone, the bail-out of not only countries, but also the banks which lent the money so irrationally. So the result will be that the EFSF will pass eventually here in Slovakia, but at least some people will think about how stupid the EFSF is.

Michael

As others have (almost) said, they'll just keep asking until they get the left answer...

i am slovak

Communism all over again? You vote but you don't get a choice. So much for democracy.

Annie, i suggest you read more.

John Skelton

Having lived in Slovakia for more than 12 years. I can sympathise with the view that Slovakia has done more than its fair share of bailing out other EU zone countries. Slovakia achieved euro zone entry status because of the prudent and professional control from the Slovak National Bank. The other EU entry countries in 2004 all failed the economic tests set by the EU monetary system. Now some of these countries that failed this entry test have economies which are powering forwards and do not have to bail out corrupt regimes !!! For example Poland. So Slovakians feel very aggrieved that their country is being penalised and their salaries are being restricted from even modest growth to 'HELP' EU countries which have simply been proliferate in ignoring the most basic EU monetary policies. As an Englishman trying to make a basic living here I would vote (if allowed) to leave the EURO to its fate and go back to the Slovak Crown and the professional National Banks approach to monetary prudence. John Skelton +421907 824918 Banska Bystrica Slovakia.

Jim Burfield

Dimoto, Hexhamgeezer

Please learn the difference between "it's" and "its" before making your next contribution. You went to school.

Peter Treadwell

Annie, you are wrong on three counts.

1. "They should be voted OUT of Euro Zone" No mechanism for doing that.

2. "They say 'No' when is time to help". They signed up to a treaty which forbade bail-outs.

3. "Get rid of this small silly country." Nothing silly about a poor country that avoids the temptation to overborrow.

Finally, it is absurd to suggest a poor country should be forced to "lend" (i.e. give) money to a richer one.

MilkSnatcher

Democracy's a bitch, ain't it?

Peter Treadwell

Read the background:

The EFSF stands a good chance of being ratified at a new vote because the main Socialist opposition (Smer), which abstained on Tuesday in order to bring down the government, actually backs the fund.

"We're saying 'no' to a rightist government, but we're saying 'yes' to the rescue fund," Smer leader Robert Fico said during the debate.

So europhobes should not get too excited.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15271141

TrevorsDen

never mid the sovereignty of the slovakian parliament its government will go ahead anyway.

Dave B

Quite right too. It would just be throwing money away to no purpose.

Baron

Listen, my blogging friends, you praise the Slovaks MPs for the wrong reason, the no vote was purely domestic politicking, the opposition that secured it wanted the government to fall, it did, they’ll now get some concessions from the ruling lot, the motion will be tabled again, will pass.

Hexhamgeezer

RE:Jim Burfield @ 11:07am

I did indeed go to school but unfortunately one whose alumni graduated to jail (sorry gaol) rather than university.

This is blogging btw which I guess explains the untidiness of your own ' Dimoto, Hexhamgeezer ' opener. Did you go to school? What''''s your excuse?

chladomor

It seems SaS just want to get more votes in following elections.

Or maybe it was a trap for Iveta Radicova from other members of government. She fighted against bribes and huge pilferage of Slovakia. It was the reason, why she was not very popular for other members of government, because they need to steal more and more. That´s why she had to out.

Jim Burfield

Hexhamgeezer

Went to J.L. eh? Well well. Meanwhile I have scrutinised my last post's opening with an intense scrute, and can find nothing wrong with it.

Hexhamgeezer

RE:Jim Burfield @ 7:28am

'Went to J L well well'

What the blinkin flip are you on about? Are you assuming I was referring to myself?

As for not being able to see an error in your own valuable contribution, there's non so blind as those who wo'n't see.

Mind you, this isn't the 1st time yo'u,ve had a dig at people's literacy and been found wanting, is it?

Jim Burfield

Hexhamgeezer

To answer your questions: (1) going to jail, (2) no, (3) probably, but I can't remember; I am prone to typoes when I can't find my glasses, certainly, but would not dream of spelling won't as wo'n't or you've as yo'u,ve. Neither would you, probably, other then when you're trying to wind me up.