Slovakia to vote on European bailout fund (AP)

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia ? Slovakia's prime minister says a vote on expanding Europe's bailout fund will also be a vote of confidence in her government.

Ahead of talks with her coalition partners, Iveta Radicova says a coalition partner has not accepted a compromise offer and adds that the vote later Tuesday in Parliament "will be linked to a confidence vote in this government." That suggests her government will fall if the vote is not carried.

On Monday, the four-party coalition, which met for three hours, was unable to agree on a compromise deal.

The 17 nations that use the euro must all approve expanding the powers of the bailout fund, which is designed to shore up Europe's defenses against the debt crisis.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) ? Slovakia's government will try again on Tuesday to solve a deep division over a continentwide plan to rescue heavily indebted European nations.

After coalition leaders failed to agree on a deal to approve the EU bailout fund on Monday, they're meeting again in a last minute effort to strike a deal.

The 17 nations that use the euro must all approve expanding the powers of the bailout fund, which is designed to shore up Europe's defenses against the debt crisis.

Slovakia's Parliament is set to vote later Tuesday. Slovakia's "no" would be a bad signal for already nervous financial markets and likely cause a government crisis here.

Ahead of the vote, European markets were giving up some of their recent gains though still remain sharply higher on the week. The euro meanwhile remained solid above $1.36.

All other EU nations have backed the expanded powers for the EU bailout fund.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Iveta Radicova said her four-party coalition, which met for three hours, was unable to agree on a compromise deal.

Slovakia, a nation of 5.5 million people, would contribute about 1 percent, or euro7.7 billion. With the help of EU funds and foreign investments, it has benefited significantly from its membership in the eurozone and the EU and become a leading European car exporter.

The outcome of the Slovak parliamentary vote is uncertain because a junior member of the four-party governing coalition is strictly opposed to boosting the fund.

The Freedom and Solidarity Party's chairman, Richard Sulik recently described the expanded bailout fund "a road to hell" and vowed again Monday to block it.

Without the votes from Sulik's party, the coalition government would have to rely on the opposition, but it's unlikely to provide any help.

The major opposition party, Smer-Social Democracy of former Prime Minister Robert Fico, supports the fund expansion in principle but was ready to vote for it in exchange for nothing less than early elections.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111011/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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