* President asks centre-right coalition to form cabinet
* Fico gives up mandate, will resign
* Coalition unclear on EU aid fund, budget gap jumps
(Adds Radicova mandate, president's quote)
By Martin Santa
BRATISLAVA, June 23 (Reuters) - The Slovak 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 defuse
uncertainty over their willingness to back the European Union's
750-billion-euro safety net. []
President Ivan Gasparovic said he was giving Radicova, head
of the biggest centre-right Christian Democrat Union (SDKU)
party, until the first parliamentary session 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 Slovak 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 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.
EU FUND, BUDGET
The emerging coalition has fudged whether it will sign off
on the EU safety net, the European Financial Stability Facility
(EFSF). Participating in any aid is highly unpopular in the
country where economic output is at 72 percent of EU average and
which only joined the euro zone last year.
Fico's outgoing leftist cabinet supported the EFSF, agreed
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 take part in it.
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 government's 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)
