* Slovakia's four coalition parties agree to EU safety net
* Cabinet meets Thursday to vote on 750 bln euro scheme
(Adds further detail, quotes, context)
By Martin Santa
BRATISLAVA, July 14 (Reuters) - Leaders of Slovakia's ruling
coalition parties on Wednesday dropped resistance to the euro
zone's planned emergency loan facility, a move that would allow
the scheme to go ahead in the coming weeks.
Slovakia, the euro zone's poorest member, had been holding
up the 750-billion-euro ($953 billion) EFSF scheme to help
countries in trouble and refused to contribute 800 million euros
in bilateral aid in a separate plan for debt-laden Greece.
The coalition grouping the Christian Democratic Union (SDKU)
of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova, the Freedom and Solidarity
(SaS), the Christian Democrats (KDH) and the ethnic Hungarian
Most-Hid agreed on Wednesday to support the EFSF mechanism.
The Finance Ministry, in a draft resolution to be presented
to a cabinet meeting on Thursday,
(http://www.rokovania.sk/Rokovanie.aspx/BodRokovaniaDetail?idMaterial=18276) proposed the government sign a framework agreement on
creating the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), and
that Slovakia take part in the scheme.
If Bratislava signs off on the EFSF, it can move ahead.
However, the Slovak parliament would still have to vote on
Slovak participation worth 4.5 billion euro in guarantees.
"We (SaS) will support the EFSF at the government meeting
and also in parliament," Richard Sulik, head of SaS and the
chairman on the parliament, said after talks with its coalition
partners on Wednesday night.
The other party leaders followed suit, saying they would
recommend its ministers support approval of the loan scheme at
Thursday's cabinet meeting.
SCANT SUPPORT FOR AID TO GREECE
But only the Christian Democrats among the governing parties
said they would support specific financial aid to Greece.
Pressure on Slovakia to unblock the EFSF had mounted over
the past few weeks because the fund is a crucial part, together
with stress tests of EU banks, of Europe's efforts to restore
confidence in financial markets after the Greek debt crisis.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said
he expected Bratislava to sign the EFSF very soon.
Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said he expected
Slovaks to sign the framework agreement on the EFSF and take on
board all the commitments made by the previous cabinet.
Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Miklos, a fiscal hawk, said
this week's negotiations with his EU counterparts in Brussels on
Slovakia's position were not easy.
The previous leftist government under Robert Fico, which was
defeated in an election last month, supported the aid schemes.
But Bratislava, facing the need for tough fiscal
consolidation, market reforms and overall to its pension system
and labour market, has little desire to contribute to bailouts
for more affluent euro zone peers such as Greece.
Slovakia, with a 5.4 million population, adopted the single
currency in January 2009 but Slovaks never anticipated a euro
zone debt crunch requiring them to chip in for rescues of
stricken member states.
Miklos said he thought it was wrong that a country with a
gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of just 72 percent of
the EU's average should be expected to help richer countries.
"Today, we are in a situation when we choose only among bad
solutions," Miklos told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
The Slovak minimum monthly wage is 308 euros and the average
is 725 euros, which is below even Greece's minimum legal wage of
863 euros. Opinion polls have shown two-thirds of Slovaks are
against extending aid to Greece.
"There must be belt-tightening, spending cuts and
restructuring of the Greek social system. They have to start to
save and lower their living standards," said Matej Gregora, 28.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
