Czech EU Presidency rejects the Austrian financial aid for Eastern European banks

Czech Vice PM Alexandr Vondra, the country currently holding the EU presidency declared on Wednesday that he sees no reason for taking supplementary anti-crisis measures, like the 150 million euro Austrian financial aid for Eastern European banks, NewsIn informs.

According to Die Presse, Vondra declared that he is not a central banker and that he has no announcement regarding Austria’s plan. Even so, Vondra admitted that banks that invested in the region a lot, like Erste or Raiffeisen might face serious problems.

According to Kurier, Vondra assured that the situation is not similar in the Czech Republic and declared that the Czechs are a traditional and conservative people who would not accept such loans. He underlined that his country is in a completely different situation than Hungary or other countries in Eastern Europe.

He added that the European Union has a financial aid plan, worth 200 billion euro, which equals to 1.5 per cent of the GDP of all EU member states.

The Austrian financial plan could amount to as much as 150 billion euro of which, Die Presse reads, 100 billion euro target Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary and the rest Ukraine, Croatia and Serbia. However, the sum was not officially confirmed.