The European Union is pretty angry about Slovakia's latest decision to back out of commitments it had made to being part of the E.U.'s Greece rescue package.
They've openly ripped into the nation:
"The eurogroup's decision [to create the Greek bail-out fund] was a crucial act at a critical moment to safeguard financial stability of the euro area as a whole, including Slovakia. I can only regret this breach of solidarity within the euro area and I expect the eurogroup and the [economic and finance ministers'] Council to return to the matter in their next meeting," economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said in a statement on Wednesday [11 August].
He stressed that Slovakia's decision does not jeopardize the whole €110 billion EU-IMF package: "This development does not put in danger the loan to and the reform programme of Greece, which is proceeding rigourously."
Thing is, political support for the move is pretty high within Slovakia:
The Finnish politician's remarks come after Slovakia's new centre-right government in a parliamentary vote earlier the same day overturned the previous centre-left administration's Greek deal.
The vote crushed the Greek loan by 69 to two.
While Slovakia alone doesn't jeopardise the rescue package, the nation has set a disturbing precedent. The E.U. can't just blow-off such a move, since in the end nations could back out of their pledges quite easily as well, especially if they are faced with their own budget problems:
A spokesman for Mr Rehn told EUobsever that Slovakia will not face any legal penalty for its Greek u-turn but should expect unspecified "political consequences."
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