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Slovakia approves expanded bailout fund for Eurozone

By Alexandra Zaviswriter 
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Lawmakers in Slovakia on Thursday approved a proposal to beef up Europe’s bailout fund for debt-stressed nations after the measure failed to get enough votes earlier this week.

The expanded fund, with a projected capacity of about $600 billion, is widely seen as critical for Europe to tame its debt crisis. Slovakia was the last country to give its approval to the measure, which required the ratification of each of the 17 countries that share the euro currency.

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A total of 114 lawmakers voted in favor Thursday, far more than the 76 that were needed, according to the Associated Press.

The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova collapsed Tuesday after a junior member refused to back the proposal. Members of the libertarian Freedom and Solidarity party had argued that Slovaks should not be expected to bail out richer but financially reckless nations such as Greece. Only 55 lawmakers voted in favor Tuesday.

Slovakia’s main opposition party, Smer, agreed to help pass the measure Thursday in exchange for early elections.

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-- Alexandra Zavis in Los Angeles

World Now
Alexandra Zavis

Alexandra Zavis is a former writer and editor on the Los Angeles Times’ Foreign Desk who has reported from more than 40 countries. She spent a decade with the Associated Press, covering Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other war-torn places. After joining The Times in 2006, she has served as a Baghdad correspondent and as a California reporter covering poverty and veterans issues. She is a recipient of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Award for distinguished reporting on foreign affairs and was part of teams of reporters awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award for foreign correspondence and APME’s International Perspective Award. She is a graduate of Oxford University and City University in London.

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