SaS: Fico Didn't Report on Purpose of Visit to China, He May Harm Slovakia

Bratislava, November 4 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) didn't inform the public or MPs about the purpose of his visit to China or about the focus of the talks and the agreements being negotiated, meaning that he could be making decisions that might harm Slovakia in the long term, while forgetting partner EU countries, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Juraj Krupa has opined. The MP drew attention to strategic cooperation with China, with which certain other European countries already have experience. "For instance, Poland has cancelled cooperation with China three times, and then there's Montenegro, which had a motorway built [by China] and is asking the EU for help with paying off the debts it has accumulated in relation to China. And we have exactly these concerns, not only of a security but also of an economic nature, that with such various decisions and signatures on some kind of strategic cooperation, in terms of infrastructure or projects, for instance, Slovakia could go even deeper into debt," Krupa warned. The MP also pointed to the prime minister's comments in which he criticised Western countries for supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia. The SaS party urged Fico to call on China and North Korea to stop supporting Russia in this conflict. "I think it's high time that he really acted as he speaks when he says that his priority is Slovakia's membership of the EU and in NATO and that he will abide by that, so that he will call on China and North Korea to stop supporting Russia," added Krupa. In Krupa's opinion, the problem is that the prime minister criticises Slovakia's existing partners and allies, thanks to which the domestic economy could develop further, and the EU, on whose funds the domestic market is dependent. zel/df