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Kanellos: Slovakia Only Country to Have Refused Loan for Greece
Thursday 16 September 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, September 16 (TASR) - The European Union countries should jointly proceed in approving a loan for Greece – meanwhile Slovakia is the only EU country to have said "no" to this aid, Greek Ambassador to Slovakia Nicolaos Kanellos told reporters on Thursday.
"As for Greece, we adhere to European rules and wish that all members of the Union would follow the same policy," said Kanellos after a luncheon with Chairman of Smer-SD Robert Fico, who had backed the loan premier prior to the June elections.
Fico, for his part, observed that Slovakia's Government should reopen discussions on a loan for Greece. He did not rule out that Smer-SD will initiate debate on this issue in parliament.
Rado Bato, spokesman for Premier Iveta Radicova (SDKU-DS), told TASR that he does not see any reason for reopening the issue. "Mr. Fico could have voted on the loan for Greece. He failed to exploit it," he said. [The run-up to June 12 election and the Greek debt issue coincided, so Fico enabled the other European states to provide the loan but left it up to the new Government as to whether to actually participate – ed. note].
"I only want to say that the Greek government is now doing all that is necessary to heal its economy and kickstart the right processes in the future," Kanellos said in an effort to encourage the Slovak Government to contribute to the eurozone loan.
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