The euro began to lose today’s gains as Slovakia turned out to be only nations from 17 countries of the European Union to reject the redesigned aid fund, threatening the efforts to rescue the region from the debt crisis.
Smer, the largest opposition party, is expected to support the changes to the European Financial Stability Facility in the second vote. The party didn’t back up the decision in today’s vote. Finance Minister Ivan Miklos said it’s likely Slovakia’s politicians would agree on the new EFSF this week. Otherwise, the political bickering in the second poorest member of the EU may threaten the financial stability of whole Europe.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated 0.3 percent to close at 235.28, following the previous drop by 1.2 percent. The index has risen 8.5 percent over the previous four days in the biggest rally since November 2008.
EUR/USD traded at 1.3647 as of 22:39 GMT, near its opening level of 1.3641, following the rise to 1.3682. EUR/JPY was at 104.64, near 104.59 — the opening price. EUR/GBP jumped from 0.8707 to 0.8763 today before retreating to 0.8754.
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