His opinion that solidarity displayed toward Greece by its fellow Eurozone member-states has its limits due to other countries struggling with their own austerity commitments expressed Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar. As he said, “Greece is in a very difficult position” but all European Union members must adhere to the bloc’s norms, including, among others, maintaining budget deficits and public debt at sustainable levels.
“Our people are also subject to austerity measures. We are doing all we can to reduce our budget deficit, to consolidate our public finances. For this reason, we cannot go too far on the issue of solidarity because it would be a bad signal to our citizens, to our taxpayers,» Cerar was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Slovenia itself is a contributor to Greece’s 240-billion-euro bailout assistance. The two-million-people country avoided its own rescue program in 2012 when it assisted its own banks with 3.2 billion euros of capital, made a plan to sell state-owned companies and cut spending.
In Greece’s case, European Union members should show some flexibility, he proposed regarding deadlines and adjustments to its bailout program. “But the basic frame and basic rules of the European Union must be obeyed by all the countries. This is our stance, and we also expect from Greece to show that it is capable and willing to do very important structural reforms and to apply European Union standards and rules,” he concluded.
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