Forgiving Greek debt would require a referendum in Slovakia

The formation of the new Greek cabinet cannot mean relinquishing the country's commitments, Prime Minister Robert Fico said at the session of the parliamentary European Affairs Committee on Wednesday. This comes in reaction to the fact that Greece intends to submit to Eurozone finance ministers a proposal to alleviate conditions of the aid programme. The new leftist Greek Government refuses to continue the austerity measures and wants a so-called 'haircut' of the amount outstanding from the bail-out package of €240 billion that was provided by the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. Slovakia is on the hook for approximately one percent of the loan for Athens and if this debt is forgiven, the money will have to be paid by people in Slovakia - a scenario that Slovak PM Fico sees as a false solidarity. He claims Slovaks should not financially participate in possible forgiveness of Greece's debt "but if we were forced into it, the Parliament has to announce a referendum and people would have to express their opinion on the issue," concludes Fico.