* President asks centre-right parties to form cabinet
* Centre-right conclude coalition agreement
* Fico gives up mandate, will resign
* Coalition unclear on EU aid fund, budget gap jumps
(Adds coalition deal, Radicova quote)
By Martin Santa
BRATISLAVA, June 23 (Reuters) - Slovakia's president asked
centre-right leader Iveta Radicova on Wednesday to form a
government after the ruling leftists gave up their attempt to
stay in power for another four-year term.
The new government will be formed by four centre-right
parties that have pledged to cut the budget deficit and improve
relations with Hungary, strained under the centre-left cabinet
of Robert Fico that included anti-Hungarian nationalists.
The centre-right parties said they had forged a framework
deal on a programme after 10-hour talks, but failed to dispel
uncertainty over their willingness to back a 750-billion-euro
safety net for the euro zone. []
President Ivan Gasparovic said he was giving Radicova, head
of the biggest centre-right party, the Christian Democrat Union
(SDKU), until the first session of parliament on July 8 to
present him a cabinet that would win parliamentary backing.
"I handed her a mandate in which I am asking her to try to
form a new government," he said.
Radicova, 53, is a sociology professor and was a candidate
in the 2009 presidential election, which she lost to Gasparovic.
The economy is expected to grow by over 3 percent this year
after a 4.7 percent slump in 2009, but unemployment remains
above 12 percent and the recovery is highly dependent on
exports, hostage to demand elsewhere in the euro zone.
Fico's leftist SMER party won the most votes in the June 12
election but failed to find coalition partners. He said he
planned to resign after the initial parliament session.
"We have to respect the election results. Slovakia will get
a wide (centre-right) coalition," Fico said.
The Christian Democratic Union (SDKU), Christian Democrats
(KDH), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and mostly ethnic Hungarian
Most-Hid concluded talks on forming a government coalition on
Wednesday afternoon [].
"We have agreed the wording of the coalition agreement,"
Radicova told reporters after the meeting.
EU FUND, BUDGET
The emerging coalition has fudged whether it will support
the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Participating
in any aid is highly unpopular in a country where economic
output is 72 percent of the EU average, and which only joined
the euro zone last year.
Fico's outgoing leftist cabinet supported the EFSF, agreed
last month to help countries facing a debt crisis, but the
centre-right parties have not commented on the plan and opposed
backing an earlier aid package for Greece. []
Slovak and EU officials have said the Slovak signature was
necessary to launch the EFSF programme, even if Slovakia later
decides not to contribute.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday it ought to
be enough that EU finance ministers have signed the deal.
[]
The outgoing government also released an update to the
fiscal outlook on Wednesday, showing the budget deficit would
jump to 7 percent of gross domestic product versus the planned
5.5 percent, confirming opposition and analysts' earlier
concerns about the fiscal position. []
Slovakia has a public debt load of 35.7 percent of gross
domestic product. That is only half the EU average but it has
been rising rapidly.
(Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Paul
Taylor)
