OPINION

The Slovak ‘no’

In the difficult days ahead, as we try to save our economy, it will be useful to remember our partners the Slovaks. Last Wednesday, after months of debate, their Parliament overwhelmingly rejected participation in the conditional loan arrangement drawn up by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Even though Slovakia is a member of the eurozone, and its previous government had committed the country to contributing 800 million euros toward Greece’s bailout, the center-right coalition voted this down. European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn was succinct in his condemnation: «I can only regret this breach of solidarity within the Euro area and I expect the Eurogroup and the Ecofin council to return to the matter in their next meeting,» he said. He added, though, that the vote would not endanger Greece’s loan and reform program. So what made Slovakia, a newcomer to the eurozone, decide on such a dynamic course at the expense of a partner? For many months – before the June elections – the Slovaks were worried about helping Greece. The leftist government in power at the time found it difficult to ask voters to support a nation whose per capita income is 50 percent higher than theirs ($30,000 versus $20,000 in 2009) and the center-right parties campaigned on a promise to reject the deal. As a former member of the East Bloc, Slovakia has had to work hard to make it first into the EU and then the eurozone. So its people are in no mood to help the Greeks, who have been portrayed as wasting huge amounts of EU money, borrowing even more and then lying repeatedly to their partners about the true state of their finances. The Slovaks accepted their participation in the EU’s multibillion rescue plan for the eurozone, putting up about 4.4 billion euros, but they preferred to violate the principle of solidarity rather than help Greece. Stuck as we are in our own navel-gazing, we tend to forget that in our effort to avoid bankruptcy we are not alone – for good and ill. Our EU partners are also part of this effort, with the unprecedented loan that was given on condition of IMF and EU supervision and our adoption of a wide-ranging reform program. The Slovaks’ rejection is evidence that we did not get the loan because we had a right to it but because other eurozone members understood that they had to support Greece in order to protect the common currency and the dream of a united Europe. If other countries had followed Slovakia’s example, this would have forced fewer countries to put up larger sums to support Greece, with all the grumbling that this would have provoked on their domestic political scene. Then we would either have had to agree to even tougher conditions or our partners would have prefered to let the euro drift rather than help Greece. The Slovaks showed that it was not at all certain that all our partners would agree to bail us out. This issue, however, holds another useful lesson for us. We saw Slovakia acting in a way that will cost it considerable political capital in Europe, choosing as it did to satisfy domestic political needs rather than express solidarity with another eurozone member. Because our own governments often choose to place domestic political considerations above the right course of action, it is useful to remember that we have a duty to act as responsible members of the EU. When domestic politics determine foreign policy – as in Germany’s delay in deciding on whether to help Greece – things become complicated and dangerous. But perhaps the most important lesson from the Slovak affair is that the Greeks should know that in today’s Europe no one feels obliged to help them. Whoever does help does so in his own interest. That is why the only answer to our critics is the success of our reform program and our economic recovery.

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