Premier Fico Denies He Met Informally with Czech Counterpart Fiala in Brussels

Bratislava, February 5 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) denied that he had an informal meeting with Czech Premier Petr Fiala earlier this week, TASR learnt from his post on a social network on Wednesday. Fico wrote that they only shook hands. "I understand that I'm a suitable candidate for abuse, but this is out of bounds," stated Fico, describing the informal meeting with the Czech premier as the same nonsense as a holiday in a hotel in Hanoi. "At the informal summit in Brussels, I shook hands politely with Czech Prime Minister Fiala. That's all," he posted on social media. Speaking at a session of the Czech Parliament's Committee for European Affairs on Wednesday, the Czech prime minister stated that he had met informally with his Slovak counterpart in Brussels on Monday (February 3) and voiced his dissatisfaction with Fico's accusations regarding alleged meddling by Czech politicians and media in Slovakia's internal affairs. According to him, Czech-Slovak ties are excellent when it comes to relations between the two nations and that obligatory cooperation at the political level works. He added that there's a need to continue communicating with Slovakia in a standard way. Fico recently repeatedly accused Czech politicians of meddling in Slovakia's internal affairs and criticised the Czech media for the picture they paint of the Slovak government. am/mcs