BRATISLAVA, March 22, (WEBNOVINY) – Slovakia’s contribution to the permanent European Stabilization Mechanism (ESM), which is to replace the temporary European Financial Stability Facility Fund in 2013, will be 17 percent lower. This stems from the results of the Monday meeting of EU finance ministers. As Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Miklos informed journalists of the results of the Ecofin meeting on Tuesday, the ministers agreed to change the key according to which a country’s contribution to the ESM is calculated. “We managed to push through a significant reduction of our contribution,” he said, adding that previous Prime Minister Robert Fico and finance minister Jan Pociatek had a chance to negotiate better terms already last year.
According to the new key, Slovakia’s contribution to the ESM should go down to 0.824 percent from the current 0.99-percent contribution to EFSF. The original key calculated the contributions based on the amount of reserves the particular countries have in the European Central Bank, which was dependent on the country’s GDP level and population, half and half. The key was considered unfair by smaller countries, including Slovakia, which tried to force through change to the system, with Miklos as the first to propose this in Brussels. The new key should calculate a country’s contribution according to its GDP level (75 percent) and the amount of its reserves in the European Central Bank (25 percent). The new way of calculating ESM contributions should be approved by heads of EU member states at a summit in Brussels this week.
Slovakia’s contribution to the ESM thus should be EUR 5.768 billion of the overall agreed-upon volume of the ESM, at EUR 700 billion. Miklos considers the new key an acceptable compromise. However, the ESM itself will not solve the EU’s problems. In his opinion, the solution should also include resolving the problems of the banking sector. The participation of Slovakia still has to be approved by Slovak Parliament.
SITA