Prime Minister Fico Meets Ambassadors of EU States

Bratislava, March 17 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) met ambassadors of other EU countries on Monday, addressing them in the spirit of "sovereign Slovak foreign-affairs policy oriented to the four cardinal points", TASR learnt from Fico's social media post on the same day. During the meeting, Fico assessed the outcome of the European Council's recent session and emphasised that Europe will never be globally competitive without gas transit via Ukraine. He declared that Slovakia will continue its diplomatic offensive to have Ukrainian transit restored. "Slovakia will not take part in any military mission in Ukraine and won't spend a single cent on military aid for Ukraine. At the same time, I'm in favour of another joint session of the Slovak and Ukrainian governments with an emphasis on mutually beneficial projects," said the prime minister. He added that Slovakia will never support any EU sanctions against Hungary over Budapest's sovereign stances. Fico claimed that he's doing his utmost to make sure that Slovakia avoids an early election and that the stability of the governing coalition is restored following the disintegration of the Voice-SD and SNS parliamentary caucuses. Fico thanked the ambassadors for an open and honest exchange of views and for respecting Slovakia's sovereign foreign-affairs policy. mf/df