Hopes of securing agreement on reforms to the eurozone's bailout package will go down to the wire on Tuesday after the warring partners in Slovakia's ruling coalition failed to reach a deal on approving the plans, Guardian.co.uk reported. Despite threatening to quit if there was no compromise, prime minister Iveta Radicova will resume talks with her coalition partners ahead of the planned vote on expanding the powers of the euro's safety net in parliament later on Tuesday. All 17 nations in the euro must approve the reforms to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) agreed by leaders in July and 15 have already done so. Malta's parliament was expected to vote yes on Monday night, leaving Slovakia the only undecided euro member. Approval has been held up by one of four members of Radicova's ruling coalition, the liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, which argues that Slovakia, the second poorest euro country after Estonia, should not have to pay to save richer peers from debt. Party's chairman, Richard Sulik, also the parliament's speaker, has described the plans as "a road to hell". Ahead of Monday's coalition meeting at the headquarters of his party in Bratislava, Sulik said the fund "is a story about wasted time". He said: "It's been in place for a year and the situation is only getting worse." Read more.
