Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on his way to an informal EU summit on competitiveness in Brussels on Thursday said that the Netherlands has a dangerous tendency to interfere in the internal sovereign affairs of other countries.
"The new Dutch government makes specific reference to Slovakia in its government manifesto. They say that we are Eurosceptic, disobedient and dare to hold a different opinion on marriage and the number of genders, which they have concealed under criticism of the state of the rule of law in Slovakia. And they say that we should be punished by having our voting rights or funds withdrawn," said Fico in response to the Dutch minority government describing Slovakia in its coalition agreement as a country that actively undermines Europe.
"So, our Dutch political friends: you have a dangerous tendency to interfere in the internal sovereign affairs of other countries. We don't do that in Slovakia. Smoke cannabis and recognise 70 genders if you wish - that's your business, but threatening another country with punishment for holding sovereign and legitimate views crosses a red line. Punishing sovereign states for their sovereign opinions is a road to hell. Anyone pursuing such a policy is endangering the entire EU. The idea that we should scrap the right of veto on fundamental issues concerning the EU's functioning and that the big countries should decide by majority vote and order the smaller ones what to do is misguided, leading to the collapse of the EU," stated Fico.
The Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry also objected to the mention of Slovakia in the Dutch coalition agreement on Wednesday. "We strongly protest against the absolutely false designation of Slovakia in the coalition agreement of the yet-to-be-named government as a country that is allegedly actively undermining Europe," Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) has posted on a social network.
The new Dutch coalition government presented its plans for the next four years last week, pledging full support for Ukraine and to honour the Netherlands' commitments to NATO.
Source: TASR
