On Thursday, October 13th Slovakia approved the expansion of the EU bailout fund as the last of the 17 member countries.

Slovakia will approve EU bailout fund

Slovakia Will Approve the Expansion of the Bailout Fund

The night of October 11th, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) expansion was rejected by the Slovak ruling coalition.

The largest opposition party Smer has agreed to vote for the expansion of the bailout fund. In return they required the next general election, scheduled for 2014, to be held in March 2012. The bill is expected to be re-approved this week.

Slovakia and the Eurozone Bailout Fund

Slovakia holds the key to the EFSF expansion

The future of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) expansion plan is being decided in Slovakia.
Extension of the bailout fund does require approval of 17 euro zone countries, one of the two remaining members – Malta has approved the extension on October 10th, now the final approval is ithe hands of Slovakia.
Slovakia is the second “poorest” country in the eurozone, the plan for the extension of the bailout fund does bring mixed opinions in the four ruling coalition parties.

Slovakia and the European Financial Stability Fund

European Financial Stability Fund is supposed to serve as financial assistance fund for the euro zone’s 27 member countries.
Slovakia was the 16th country to introduce Euro, using the common european currency since January 1, 2009.

Slovakia and Greece

Slovakia belongs to the poor countries in the euro area. As of June 2011 in Slovakia the average monthly salary is 781 euros, while the lowest monthly salary as of January 2011 in Greece being 863 euros.
In addition, the Greek economy is equivalent to 3.5 times the Slovakian. In Slovakia, a country which has many financial issues itself, the support for economically larger Greece is bringing a wave of criticism.

Within only a few days, Slovakia will become the host of the 75th IIHF World Championship. Sixteen world’s elite ice hockey teams will fight for the title. From 29 April 2011 to 15 May 2011, the games will become the main event in Bratislava and Kosice.

In Bratislava, the matches will be held in the Orange Arena (Ondrej Nepela stadium). The stadium is completely renovated and the capacity reaches 9.766. The stadium is known for its unique atmosphere and convenient location close to the city center and transport links.

One of the most modern stadiums in Europe is the Steel Arena in Kosice (Ladislav Troják stadium) with a capacity of 8.347 seats.
Teams will play 56 games overall. The tournament matches will begin in four basic groups.

Basic Groups

16 teams are divided into 4 basic groups:

The exclusive ticket reseller for the 2011 IIHF World Championship is Ticketportal. Tickets can be bought as follows:
through the official site of the 2011 IIHF World Championship www.iihf.com
through the official sales partner www.ticketportal.sk (or ticketportal.cz, ticketportal.pl, ticketportal.hu)
at the Ticketportal stores across Slovakia
in selected outlets of Ticketportal in other countries: the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, later also through partners in Russia, Austria, Slovenia, Belarus and Switzerland
phone Ticket-Hotline: +421/917-86 86 86 (9:00 to 21:00 h CET)

The official website of the IIHF World Championship – http://www.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf-world-championship-wc11/
The Bratislava city site for the championship – http://hokej.bratislava.sk/
The Kosice city site for the championships – http://www.hockey.kosice.sk/