Slovakia not sure about its stance on UK demands

Representing Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico is attending an EU summit in Brussels on February 18-19. The summit will concern Britain's conditions for remaining in the EU. Leaders of EU-member states are to seek agreement concerning four problematic areas in Britain's demands. These areas concern competitiveness, the management of economic matters, sovereignty and social welfare and the free movement of people. An agreement with or rejection of Britain's terms will decide whether British Prime Minister David Cameron will campaign for or against Britain's EU membership in the planned referendum. Slovakia doesn't know yet if it will support a deal. "We'll wait for the final version of the agreement," said PM Fico on Monday. One of the conditions is the so-called 'bailout mechanism', which should temporarily restrict access for EU citizens to certain types of social welfare in Britain. Britain has spoken about a seven-year transitional period. The V4 group (V4 - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) requires that these measures should not be retroactive. Also discussed at the summit is the topic of migration, as well as child allowances, which the V4 group plans to index as controversial.