By: Dr. Mike Campbell

Slovakia has only existed as a country since 1993 when it emerged from the break-up of Czechoslovakia (the remainder of the country becoming the Czech Republic). It joined the EU in 2004 with the last raft of new entrants, mainly from the former Iron Curtain countries and it adopted the Euro as recently as 2009.

Slovakia is the second poorest member of the Eurozone (the dubious privilege of being the poorest belongs to Estonia) and has embarked upon its own unpopular austerity measures designed to tackle its own sovereign debt problems.

The world’s spotlight turned onto Slovakia this week as its parliament was set to become the 17 out of 17 Eurozone nations to vote on the enlargement and extension of the remit for the European Financial Stability Fund, (EFSF) the agreement having been endorsed by all other Eurozone partners. The fund is intended to provide support to European financial institutions by offering credit and having the ability to buy government bonds.

The Slovakian coalition government turned the issue of supporting EFSF into a matter of confidence. In the event, this was not so wise since a junior coalition partner and the opposition Social Democrats abstained from the vote. The EFSF ballot fell 21 votes short, plunging Europe into a fresh crisis, since the measure must be passed by all Eurozone parliaments if it is to be enacted.

The outgoing coalition has agreed with the opposition that a snap election will be called for March 2012. In return for this, the EFSF legislation will go before parliament again (as early as tomorrow) and is expected to have an easy passage – his time.