WORLD
Slovak Parliament Speaker Richard Sulik (C) opens a parliamentary session on the eurozone``s debt rescue fund.
Slovakia`s parliament on Tuesday brought down the government by rejecting a plan to expand the euro zone`s EFSF rescue fund, crucial to containing a spreading debt crisis.
However, the outgoing finance minister, Ivan Miklos, said the plan could still be approved by the end of the week.
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova had made the issue into a vote of confidence to try to prevent one of her coalition partners, the liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, from opposing the EFSF, but in vain.
The count showed 55 votes in favour and nine against out of a chamber of 150 deputies. The remainder, including the SaS deputies, were absent or did not register a vote, and a majority of all seats was required for the motion to pass.
Radicova is expected to call another vote that is likely to pass comfortably with the support of the main opposition party, Smer, which had demanded a reshuffle or resignation as the price for its support.
"There is an assumption that the EFSF, one way or the other, will be approved by the end of the week," Miklos told parliament ahead of the vote.
Slovakia is the only euro zone member yet to ratify the deal.
The prospect of further delays to the ratification of expanded powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) hit markets already under pressure from signs that the crisis is spilling beyond Greece`s borders.
Even as Slovakia wrangles over the July agreement, euro zone leaders are scrambling to give the 440 billion euro safety net even greater clout.
The leftist opposition Smer party has repeatedly said it supports the EFSF plan in principle and is ready to discuss backing it once the government is out of office.
"Smer is curious to see what the ruling coalition parties will propose in return for a fast-track vote and approval of this vital document for Slovakia," Smer`s leader, former prime minister Robert Fico, told parliament.
"Smer is ready for this discussion."
A senior Smer official said he believed a new vote would be held "as soon as possible."