Slovak Budget Not Fully in Accord with EU Rules, But Greenlighted by EC (UPDATE)

Bratislava, November 20 (TASR) - Although Slovakia's state budget draft for next year doesn't fully comply with EU requirements, the European Commission (EC) has accepted it and given it the green light, the Finance Ministry's press department told TASR on Wednesday. The EC identified certain risks of deviation when assessing the structural balance as well as the expenditure rule. At the same time it highlighted that Slovakia's debt is safely below the level of 60 percent of GDP. The slowdown in economic growth, external environment and plentiful amount of 'pre-election legislation' has meant that the EU views Slovakia's budget for next year as not fully keeping to the rules required by the EU, explained the Finance Ministry. "It's absolutely understandable and, given the current situation, we expected such an assessment from the Commission. My ambition is for the budget to be approved and for no further changes to be made to it that would mean an increase in next year's deficit. We still have sound public finances, and if the 'pre-election creativity' of MPs isn't reflected in it, next year's deficit should account for 0.49 percent of GDP," said Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD). Parliament will discuss the state budget draft for the next three years at its upcoming session due to start on November 26, 2019. The EU assesses the draft budgets of individual eurozone countries every year. Eleven countries have submitted budgets that the Commission views as more or less in accord with the Stability and Growth Pact criteria. In the case of four countries, namely Finland, Slovenia, Portugal and Slovakia, the EC stated that there's a risk that they might not fully meet the required criteria. The budgets of France, Spain, Belgium and Italy were assessed as being the worst by the Commission. ko/df/mf