Otvoriť - EUROREPORT plus

SUMMARYnot to enable to win tender quotting anunderestimated price and to rely on that theprice may get increased by extra schedules,addenda, anneces to the contract.Excerpt from an Interview with StateSecretary of the Ministry of Finance ofthe Slovak Republic, Vladimír TvarožkaSurprisingly, even strong economiessuch as German, French and Italianones, have been affected withproblems related to fulfillment of theMaastricht criteria. This phenomenonraised responses of Europoliticianswho called for making the criteria ofthe Stability and Economic Growth Pactmore real as they are extraordinarilytough. How do you assess the saidEuropean Union Summit held inBrussels in March 1997?Positively. The Pact on Stability andEconomic Growth was adopted still in1997 and it is obvious that after yearsof functioning there were motions andpropositions raised in order to updatethe rules and make it more efficient. Anagreement was reached concerning it andthis is important although it was not simpleat all.What was it about and what was thestandpoint of Slovakia’s delegation?It dealt with making the preventivepart of the Pact better, improved and ofhigh standard. It is stipulated there thatcountries have to follow balanced budget orclose to balance budget. It is target of thePact but it should be the goal of any nationalgovernment. Concurrently, certain flexibilityis admitted in repressive or corrective partof the Pact concerning those countriesmainly which have exceeded already threeper cent limit or they are about to exceedthe said limit. In Slovakia, we do not like itmuch but we are able to accept it as a smallcompromise package.Absolutely. We may say that Slovakiais quite successful from economicviewpoint as it reaches three per centState budget deficit, notably 3.3 percent last year. On the other hand,the above-said strong economies areexceeding three per cent deficit byca 0.4 to 0.6 per cent for a long timealready, so thus, they were widelycriticized for it. On top of that theywere suspected that their rulinggovernments do not pay adequateattention to the issue accordingly.What’s the situation like?In Germany, France and Italy and, ofcourse, in some other European countrieswhere they face the problems concerningthree per cent deficit, the issue is oneof the hot inland political topics soI really don’t know why are theysuspected that they are notfully involved in solving out the84problem. For example in Germany andin France, they took numerous restrictivemeasures. Despite the steps are notsufficient I have to admit that regardingeconomic situation of the mentionedcountries they are quite significant andtheir discussion on budgetary policy is moresensitive and demanding than in Slovakia.Breaching the rules of the Pact on Stabilityand Economic Growth is really a significanttopic in domestic affairs of the countries.So the question is why did they fail tosolve out the issue? I mean, did theymake every endeavours to improvedeficit?Unfortunately, the economies of thementioned countries are growing ratherslowly at one per cent or so, i.e., economicsituation in these countries is ratherunfavourable. It is a completely differentsituation than in our country. Regardingendeavours they made I have to say thatin any case they were breaching the rules,it’s obvious. And that’s too bad because anyrules have to be kept.That’s true. Therefore, in Slovakia theycall for slowdown on our way to targetof three per cent deficit. Let’s havea look at neighbours. Budapest andWarsaw are looking for excuses for fiveyears already, justifying their higherbudgetary deficit with pension schemereforms. Why could not also Slovakia’sGovernment smooth its attitudetowards deficit, following a model ofGerman, French or Italian governmentsor even that one of Hungary andPoland?It couldn’t. I do not recommend to bedevoted to this group of countries. Eventhree per cent deficit is harmful and wrong.We burden future generations with it, don’tyou think so?Well, in these countries they have tobe aware of the fact that if they werebreaching the rules of the Pact onStability and Economic Growth theyhad to have good grounds for it. Thatwas also why the European UnionSummit had been held in Brussels,notably that Germans didn’t want toinclude expenditures for Europeanunifying process into deficit. They hadbeen satisfied with this demand. Sothus, where to look for a model then?We should better look for a model inNordic countries which report favourableresults in economy with public finance;they achieve good economic results, theyhave the functioning State and also eitherbalanced or surplus budgets. In my opinion,Finland, Sweden, Denmark and also theBaltic States - Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia,these are examples for us. They have goodand sound public finance for their people.Within the European Union they are praisedwith a credit, so why are we to take asa model the countries which fail and breachthe conventions....... more than that Slovakia also wishesto be praised with a credit, doesn‘t it?No, it doesn’t. We do not build up soundpublic finance because of a praise grantedby the European Union. We do so becauseof future generations. I think that debt leftby us to them is already too high and thereis no reason to increase it further. This is theonly logic explanation which makes sense.Therefore, I can’t understand why shouldwe have three or four per cent deficit at all.There are no grounds for having deficit inSlovakia.Let’s talk about taxes, about taxincome, to be exact. What is thedevelopment like?Very favourable. In full compliancewith expectations so far. There is a betterdevelopment in income taxes; thereis a bit worse situation with the V.A.T.Notwithstanding, the two tax items aremutually in balance. Regarding the SocialInsurance Company, there can be a certaingap in income expected, so we face a worsesituation there.You mentioned a certain deficit in incomefrom the V.A.T. Does it concern the flat 19per cent rate?No, it doesn’t. At the present, developmentof the V.A.T. doesn’t have anything incommon with amendments to rates. Ithas been determined by the entry in theEuropean Union and the fact that the V.A.T.on goods imported from the EU is beingcollected in the moment of selling it, and notat the customs offices. This influence is moresignificant. Let me emphasize that economyis sound and therefore, people can bothconsume and purchase more.Excerpt from an Interview with StateSecretary of the Ministry of Financeof the Slovak Republic, VladimilPodstránskyLast year the State Treasury waslaunched at speed which took overState finance administration from theNational Bank of Slovakia [NBS]. Is thenew system better than the old oneand why?The main idea of the State Treasury wasto concentrate any State funds on onebank account in order to implement cashpooling, i.e., an optimal use of own funds inorder the State would not be dependent onother funds in the event that it has sufficientamount of its own. Many budgetary andsubsidized organizations and funds hadtheir money in commercial banks so far.On the other hand the State had to borrowmoney from banks. It was an importantproblem which was definitely solved outby introducing the State Treasury. The State