(Repeating story from Friday)
* PM Fico says lacks political mandate to sign
* FinMin Pociatek slams opposition stance
* Germany expects Slovaks to honour their commitments
(Adds PM Fico, FinMin Pociatek, Germany's comments)
By Martin Santa
BRATISLAVA, June 18 (Reuters) - Slovakia rejected on Friday
calls to sign Europe's 750 billion euro stability programme, a
necessary step for the financial safety net to go ahead, amid
political wrangling.
All countries must sign off on the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF) before it can go ahead and Slovakia's
rejection could jeopardise European finance ministers' plan for
the facility to be operational by the end of June.
Slovakia was asked during a European Council meeting in
Brussels on Thursday to sign the deal.
Outgoing Prime Minister Robert Fico, however, said his
government lacked a mandate to do so. He said it was ready to
sign if given the nod by centre-right parties that are trying to
form a government after winning elections last week.
"We are ready to sign if they say 'Yes, we respect that
mechanism'," Fico told a news conference on Friday.
Pressure has been building on Slovakia from abroad to take
at least the first step and sign off on the facility.
"We are confident that the prime minister and the new
government know their European responsibility", a German
government spokesman said on Friday.
Slovakia is due to contribute around 4.5 billion euros to
the 750 billion euro financial safety net, which was established
by euro zone governments this month for member countries if they
run into financial difficulty.
OPPOSITION TO GREEK AID
The issue has become the centre of a domestic political
struggle between Fico's leftist administration, which lost its
majority in the election, and centre-right parties, who have
opposed European aid to Greece.
The conservative Christian Democrat Union (SDKU), the
Christian Democrat Movement (KDH), the liberal Freedom and
Solidarity (SaS) and the mostly ethnic Hungarian party Most-Hid
have been negotiating to form a cabinet but have not yet won an
official mandate from President Ivan Gasparovic.
The SDKU's election leader and the likely next prime
minister, Iveta Radicova, said Fico had full authority to sign
off on the EFSF.
"Slovakia's prime minister and the government have a full
(power) to decide (on the EFSF)," Radicova told reporters
earlier on Friday.
She declined to ask Fico to sign the plan and refused to
comment on how she would decide.
Finance Minister Jan Pociatek slammed the opposition stance.
"This is like playing with an atomic bomb. It is
unpredictable what could happen if the mechanism will not be
available on time," he said.
Slovakia needs to sign the agreement on the EFSF but can
later decide not to participate in the aid mechanism without
preventing other countries from going ahead.
Once 90 percent of all the mechanism's guarantees are
confirmed by participating countries, the aid scheme can become
operational.
Slovakia has a separate problem concerning the 110 billion
euro EU/IMF bailout package for debt-laden Greece.
The country, which joined the euro zone in 2009 and is much
poorer than Greece, is due to vote next month on its 800 million
euro contribution to the package. But, before the election, the
centre-right parties refused to say whether they would commit
Slovakia's share to the bailout should they take power.
(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and
Andreas Rinke in Berlin; Editing by Susan Fenton)
