Premier: EU and NATO Important, but We Have the Right to Criticise

Bratislava, January 19 (TASR) - The European Union (EU) and NATO are vital for Slovakia, but no one should be prevented from expressing criticism about their functioning or direction, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has stated in a video on social media, defending his party colleague, House Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar. "He [Gaspar] accurately described the situation in the European Union, emphasising that Slovakia must be prepared for various development scenarios," said he. He also stated that it could lead to the disintegration of the Union. "Just as the Warsaw Pact collapsed within a year, global events could send the EU and NATO into history books, and cries from Slovakia won't help," Fico remarked. Fico also commented on the visit of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party to Kiev and their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He's convinced that Zelenskyy, despite PS's claims about the willingness to negotiate gas transit through Ukraine to Slovakia, doesn't consider such a possibility, pointing to Zelensky's reluctance to meet at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos. The premier even believes that Zelenskyy's intention is to generally boycott gas transit from east to west, linking it to the attack on the TurkStream pipeline. Gaspar, in an interview with STVR on Friday (January 17), commented on the opposition SaS's proposal to enshrine Slovakia's membership in the EU and NATO in the Slovak Constitution. The House Vice-chair noted that Slovakia joined both organisations based on a referendum and the same rule should also apply to a possible withdrawal, which he described as a last-resort solution. lin