Tiny Slovakia to derail Euro Bailout?

I can't imagine the EU standing for this defiance from Slovakia. The Eurocrats will bring them into line one way or the other, like they did with Ireland. Maybe a gentle hint from the Germans that Slovakia may face reduced funding from the EU budget will sway the Slovaks to make the "right choice" next time.

The Czechs are smarter than the Slovaks. They are part of the EU but kept their own money so no Euro bailout for them. They too benefited from being part of the EU without having to join the Euro zone. Except they inherited the EUs fucked up labor laws.

What about Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the UK? None of these countries use the Euro.

Are you aware that the Czech Republic has always intended to adopt it and have even go so far as to start designing the Czech euro notes and coins? Whilst the current crisis may delay or halt that, had it happened just a few years later they would be a fully paid up member of the Eurozone (indeed the original adoption date, scheduled before the global crisis, was set to be January 2010). But, I'm sure you know all this already due to having been there for an entire week.

According to Spiegel Online, the second Slovakian vote on the EFSF is scheduled for the end of this week. It is expected that the EU implements the EFSF independently of the outcome of the second Slovakian vote.

According to the BBC it's likely the Slovakian vote will be successful anyway.

I was there 3 weeks and spent plenty of Czech Crowns. I heard no mention of them going to the Euro except those who were fearing the day it might go to it because of the cost of their manufactured products would rise and lose their competitive advantage.

So you simply rely on whether or not someone discusses it in front of you for it to either be possible or not?

Says who? I've heard about blank Czechs all my life, but I've never heard anyone talking about blank Slovaks.

So they voted it down. Take the money and run. Nice of them.

What exactly did they 'take'?

I would take a quick guess at access to EU funding; freedom to work and claim benefits in any EU member state and participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Bingo.

Eurozone != EU.

But did they run?

Cause from the article posted it wasn't so much they ran as they demanded that other countries stop running from the rules that everyone agreed too.

That's the way I read it.

No eurozone = all the advantages of being in that currency. I bingoed it cus it was shoryer to type on this phone...

Only if there's a chaotic exit. A planned one is highly unlikely to start a domino effect - Italy, Ireland, Spain and Portugal aren't in the same league as Greece and could survive in the Euro with some restructuring.

A chaotic exit will destroy the Euro though, and so the EU needs to stop thinking of maintaining it's Hotel California policy as the Greek people are quite likely to want to leave before long. The fact they've ignored a growing crisis, and it took Dexia for things to really sink in hardly fills me with confidence.

An orderly exit for Greece would help them recover, and see reductions in the cost of Eurozone debt, but only true Eurozone bonds will see a Euro recovery happen in the near term, and the Germans aren't exactly thirsting for that.

I also disagree stimulus would be any use, the US threw a trillion dollars at the recession to a minimal effect. I've said before, we have a debt problem, and we won't see a return to meaningful growth until that is tackled. Stimulus won't have any effect on true demand, and no nation could feasibly fund itself to maintain the illusion of demand long enough for the real thing to appear.

Growth is a marathon, we used the cheap debt to sprint and now we're fucked until we have, economically speaking, caught our breath.

That's what one of the Slovak coalition wanted, the opposition wanted to play politics, so now the opposition has what it wanted they'll vote for the EFSF expansion.

Of course, there's going to be needed another vote on a much greater change soon.

You know that they're mooting some more treaty changes, which will require another referendum here?

Given how shabbily we're being treated by the EU, I wonder how that'll go.

Hell the Czechs don't have the freedom to work right now. They only have the freedom the work the hours the government allows them. Its sad. People wanting better things and willing to work overtime to get them but banned by federal law. Its a 100% classed society. No free society it going to tell its people how much they can earn.

Slightly skewed presentation there. It's not just the Czechs affected by the Working Time Directive. But they can work freely in any EU country they want, including the UK, which allows the max to be exceeded with individual consent. So no, they're not 'banned' from seeking out more work and more earnings if they're willing to migrate over here (which they do, en masse).