* Vote gives government mandate to tighten fiscal policy
* Prime minister vows to root out corruption
(Adds analyst's quote and background)
BRATISLAVA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Slovakia's new centre-right
government won a parliamentary confidence vote on Tuesday,
giving it a mandate to tighten fiscal policy and fight
corruption.
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova's government received 79 votes
in the 150-seat chamber, where the four-party coalition -- her
Christian Democrats, a second Christian Democrat party, a party
of economic liberals and an ethnic Hungarian party -- holds a
majority. Sixty-six deputies voted against the motion.
"We will cut the public finance deficit below 3 percent of
GDP by 2013 to stop Slovakia's rising debt, we plan savings
worth hundreds of millions of euros," Radicova told parliament
before the vote and after a marathon six-day debate.
The euro zone's newest and poorest member pledged to cut its
fiscal gap by 2.5 percentage points next year from 7-8 percent
of gross domestic product (GDP) expected in 2010.
Finance Minister Ivan Miklos, a fiscal hawk who directed
Slovakia's wide-reaching market reforms and the country's
accession to the euro zone from 2002 to 2006, has said he would
deliver a detailed fiscal plan by the end of August.
Based on the programme, the cabinet wants to achieve a
balanced budget in the mid-term, draft a constitutional law on
fiscal responsibility, introduce caps on government expenditure
and simplify the tax system.
Reducing government deficits has become a theme in the euro
zone, which Bratislava joined in January last year, with
governments drafting budget cuts to prevent Greek-style debt
crises.
"It is hard to assess anything due to a lack of details
about the consolidation plan. I would welcome it if the
government would focus on the expenditure side," said ING Bank
analyst Eduard Hagara.
Miklos said in July about two-thirds of the savings would be
made on the expenditure side.
CORRUPTION NAMED ENEMY OF STATE
Radicova's cabinet, which took office on July 9, pledged to
preserve the 19 percent flat tax system, introduced six years
ago in a reform package that helped to make Slovakia the
European Union's fastest-growing member in 2007.
Corruption has been a burden for business throughout central
Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and the
government branded it an enemy of the state.
"A responsible government must face corruption and this is
what the new government plans to do," Radicova said.
The government wants to improve the business climate, crack
down on corruption and boost law enforcement, which were
concerns for investors under the previous left-wing government
of Prime Minister Robert Fico.
(Reporting by Martin Santa; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
