Slovak lawmakers reject eurozone's revamped EFSF rescue fund

Slovakia's lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a revamp of the eurozone's EFSF rescue fund in a crunch vote that also toppled the country's centre-right government which had staked its future on the motion. Only 55 of 124 lawmakers present in the room voted in favour, while nine were against and 60 did not vote in the 150-member chamber, effectively blocking the revamp of the eurozone's 440-billion-euro ($600 billion) bailout fund. The vote also toppled the centre-right government of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova who failed to secure backing from the junior coalition liberal party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) in what Radicova had also made a confidence motion. The opposition left Smer-SD said after the failed vote it was ready in a repeat ballot to vote in favour of the EFSF fund, in exchange for a snap election. "Smer-SD is ready to back the EFSF in exchange for a deal on snap elections," Smer-SD lawmaker Jan Pociatek said, adding the repeat vote could take place this week. Smer-SD chairman and former prime minister Robert Fico said his party, which did not take part in the vote to help sink the government, was ready for talks. "For Smer-SD, the ratification of the EFSF is a priority. Slovakia has to ratify the EFSF, without the mechanism the situation can get worse," he said. The country's leaders said earlier they would try to pass the EFSF revamp in a repeated vote with support from the opposition, but no date has been fixed for that vote yet. What we are deciding on today is the good name of Slovakia, reliability, where it will belong... or if we exclude ourselves from the community of the successful," Prime Minister Iveta Radicova said ahead of the vote. "I beg you, trust this government... the interests and reliability of Slovakia are the most valuable things I know, I have, I offer," she added, her voice trembling with emotion. Radicova tied the EFSF vote to a confidence motion in her government in a high stakes bid to ensure ratification of the eurozone's debt rescue fund. She also said she hoped the EFSF could be passed in a second vote with opposition support. SaS lawmaker Martin Poliacik told AFP late Tuesday a repeat vote was "possible Wednesday afternoon at the earliest". In Brussels, European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen declined to comment on the vote. An EU source had told AFP earlier that failure to get ratification would mean EU leaders having to re-start negotiations. And a spokesman for the European Commission had said the EU was "very much hoping" Slovakia would find a way to resolve the impasse and declined to speculate "on alternative outcomes". Sixteen other eurozone nations approved the revamped EFSF, the eurozone's frontline defence against the spreading of the debt crisis, but the bailout mechanism requires unanimous approval of all 17 members of the single currency bloc to take effect. SaS leader Richard Sulik had threatened to vote no for weeks and on Tuesday said his party would not take part in the vote. Sulik charged that as the eurozone's second poorest member, Slovakia was too poor to pay for the mistakes of richer eurozone states that have run up huge debts. His party's withdrawal meant that Radicova lost 22 votes from the 79-vote majority her government has in the 150-seat parliament. In the parliamentary debate prior to the vote, Finance Minister Ivan Miklos said: "I expect the EFSF to be approved this week. Slovakia's image is tarnished anyway." Eurozone leaders agreed in July to boost the EFSF's powers in the hope of stemming the fallout from the eurozone's deepening sovereign debt crisis which now threatens the euro project, the bloc's banking system and the economy. The changes are key for going ahead with a second bailout for Greece and the emergency recapitalisation of banks. Sulik's SaS has long vowed to vote down the measure unless Slovakia is exempt from providing state guarantees worth 7.7 billion euros for the revamped EFSF. It also wanted an opt-out from the European Stabilisation Mechanism (ESM), a permanent bailout fund designed to replace the EFSF in mid-2013, and veto power for Slovakia over future emergency loan disbursements from the EFSF. The EFSF was set up after Greece was first bailed out to save it from default in May 2010. Slovakia abstained from the first Greek bailout.