Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) heavily criticised a statement by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that Germany will consider proposing in Brussels that EU funds to Slovakia should be cut if it continues to deviate from the Union's common direction.
“The chancellor's statements are unacceptable in modern Europe,” stated Fico during his visit to Armenia on Tuesday. "If someone wants to promote a policy of a single mandatory opinion, that means the end of democracy in Europe. No one can threaten us here by saying that if we don't obey, they will put us in order," added the Premier. According to him, Slovakia's positions are not based on "vanity" or narrow-mindedness, but on the fact that it has its own national interests.
According to Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer-SD), the German Chancellor's reasoning is unacceptable; if any country raises reservations, it does so because of its sovereign position, and then there's a need to negotiate, not seek coercive mechanisms.
"The Slovak Republic is a full-fledged member of the European Union, where decision-making isn't guided by the statements of bigger countries, but by seeking consensus. For this reason, Slovakia has repeatedly emphasised that it's against scrapping the veto and replacing unanimous voting with a mere qualified majority, which would put some countries in a disadvantageous position in which they would have to accept decisions that could fundamentally affect the country itself and its inhabitants," said Blanár.
“Slovaks are not German slaves,” said Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko in response to Merz's statement.
"The Germans are telling us that if we don't obey, if we have our own opinion, they'll take away our EU funds. As if it weren't enough what the powerful states in the European Union are doing, as if it weren't enough that they've devised a deliberate system to cut off Eastern countries from cheap energy and make them lose their competitiveness," said Danko.
"I can't imagine any chancellor in the European Union speaking this way about another country. The German chancellor seems to forget that Slovakia isn't a colony," Danko noted.
According to PS leader Michal Šimečka, Slovakia is losing its relationship with European partners on whom Slovakia's security and prosperity depend. He lambasted Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) for heavily criticising Merz’s statement.
"Germany is our most important partner, and when such words are uttered by the German chancellor, it's a clear signal of what we in PS have been saying for a long time, that Fico's policies have brought us into absolute isolation. Our partners don't understand us or trust us, and perceive us to be a problematic state along with Hungary," said Šimečka.
Source: TASR
