Brussels, 22/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - Slovakia will stick to its eurozone accession objective of 2009. On Thursday the representative Slovak plenipotentiary, Igor Barat, declared on Thursday declared, “all data show that this target date is realistic”. On his way to different meetings with Joaquin Almunia's services, Barat said that the practical and economic conditions for entry into the Euro zone on 1 January 2009 have been met. Barat was appointed in February to ensure transition to the single currency and provided assurances that the question of the Euro was not a political question in Slovakia and enjoyed, “a broad consensus”. The former spokesperson of the National Bank of Slovakia (Národná Slovenska) pointed out that the Slovak people were largely supportive of the Euro with more than 70% in favour according to many different studies. He recognised that the most tenacious fears involved the possible rise in prices. Respect of inflation will be the main hurdle on the road to the Euro, according to Barat. The Slovak Crown was integrated into the MCE II at the end of November 2005 and re-evaluated last week (EUROPE 9389) at the request of the country's authorities, in order to maintain macro-economic stability. The Slovak deficit is expected to rise, according to the Commission's autumn forecasts to 3.4% of GDP in 2006 and 3% in 2007, to return to below this threshold in 2008 (2.9%). In terms of the debt, the country is managing to bring it down from 33% in 2006 to 31.6% in 2007. (ab)