On February 7th, 1992 leaders of the European Union member states at the time signed the so called Maastricht Treaty. It led to the creation of the euro currency which officially came into existence in January 1999 but coins and banknotes were put in circulation three years later. A member state who wants to use the euro as its currency had to fulfil the now famous Maastricht criteria stating that: inflation should not be 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the three best performing member states of the EU; the ratio of the annual government deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) must not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year while the upper limit for gross government debt  is  60% of GDP; the nominal long-term interest rate must not be more than 2 percentage points higher than in the three lowest inflation member states.

The year 2012 and the years ahead are said to be very tough for Slovakia and its economy. Job cuts, cuts in spending, not enough employments opportunities ... all predicted for the years ahead.

…this might by the most important question 26 political parties will have to answer in the campaign for the March early elections that takes off in Slovakia these days.

...and everybody hopes voters will count the shots properly in March when early parliamentary elections take place.

The euro zone has not overcome its debt crisis yet and banks, which were told to cover part of the bill, have been complaining of too much regulation that reduces their ability to lend to companies.

Slovakia’s economy will grow by only 1.7% of GDP next year, which leaves the state budget with a hole by half a billion euro larger than expected.

Last Tuesday, Parliament voted to oust the centre- right Government of Iveta Radicova. The leaders of parliamentary political parties try to find a solution for an interim Government  that will lead the country until early parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2012.