KDH Calls on President to Act Concerning Fico's Stance on EU Summit

Bratislava, March 4 (TASR) - The opposition Christian Democrats (KDH) have called on President Peter Pellegrini to initiate a round-table discussion or to directly use his constitutional powers concerning the issue of Thursday's (March 6) extraordinary EU summit, the conclusions of which Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) wants to veto, the KDH communications department told TASR on Tuesday. KDH added that the head of state should make it clear that Slovakia must be part of the solution, not an obstacle in relation to the development of the war in Ukraine. "The president bears co-responsibility for the country's foreign-policy direction. At this critical moment, he should speak out and make it clear that Slovakia must be part of the solution, not an obstacle," said KDH, pointing out that Fico wants to exercise his veto directly at the summit and on Thursday will ask the parliamentary committee on European affairs to approve this procedure. "The possibility of exercising the right of veto for Premier Fico may mean that he'll block a joint decision by the countries. If a Slovak veto would jeopardise the summit's objectives, it's likely that an agreement will be reached on the basis of voluntary cooperation between member states. This would mean irreversible damage to Slovakia's credibility and complete isolation, as well as a potential threat to the use of funds from the European budget," stated the Christian Democrats. The party therefore also called on the committee members, especially representatives of the Voice-SD party, not to support Fico's stance. "Breaking the unity of the EU at this time may also lead to undoing the EU peace initiatives that we've been waiting for for so long. It will also seriously threaten the security of Europe as a whole," stated the party. An extraordinary EU summit on support for Ukraine and on European defence is set to take place in Brussels on March 6. It was convened to discuss how to respond to the drastic change of course in US policy towards the war in Ukraine. The premier disagrees with military or financial support for Ukraine. He proposes including an explicit request to Ukraine to resume the transit of Russian or other gas via its territory to Slovakia and Europe in the conclusions of the EU summit. According to him, if the Slovak proposal is rejected, he may block the adoption of conclusions concerning financial and military aid for Ukraine. am/df