Lexmann: Fico Transforms from Social Democrat to Conservative at CPAC

Bratislava, February 22 (TASR) - At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington on Friday (February 21), Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) transformed himself from a social democrat to a conservative, MEP Miriam Lexmann (KDH) commented on Fico's speech on Saturday. "To be conservative, however, means also to protect values such as human dignity, justice, the rule of law, fair governance of public resources and the fight against corruption. Words must be followed by actions or else it's just a PR stunt," said Lexxmann. Lexmann pointed out that Fico talked about the protection of Slovakia's sovereignty in the EU, but the return to the fundamental values of the EU is one of the goals that KDH has been pursuing for decades. KDH wants the EU to revert to a form it used to have at the time of Slovakia's joining, when it protected economic interests of its inhabitants. In Lexmann's view, the EU also shouldn't interfere with exclusive powers of the member states. "In this, Robert Fico and Smer party stood on the other side of the fence for many long years, so we'll be watching to see whether his words are going to be followed by actions too," she noted. In his Friday speech at CPAC, Fico claimed that Europe today needs diversity of opinion because the politics of the single right opinion is destroying it and those who go against the current are excluded and punished. Fico stated that he's surprised by the behavior of EU and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who "wanted war in Ukraine" for three years and today try to push themselves into peace talks between the United States and Russia. Fico underlined that he's looking forward to cooperation with US President Donald Trump. mf