Blanar: Slovakia Represented at European Foreign Council by its Ambassador

Bratislava, March 19 (TASR) - Foreign and European Affairs Ministry state secretary Marek Estok was originally supposed to stand in for minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) at a session of the European Foreign Affairs Council on Monday (March 17), but the state secretary became ill, Blanar explained on Wednesday. The Foreign Affairs Minister responded this way to criticism by opposition's Progressive Slovakia (PS) of the fact that Slovakia had not been represented by any politician at the session, in the wake of Blanar's visit to India. Blanar pointed out that Slovakia was represented in Brussels by its ambassador. "It's quite common to have ambassadors convey positions of individual states. The Slovak Republic stands firmly behind its stances on peace, the rejection of war support and protection of EU's competitiveness," added Blanar, who had left for India on Sunday (March 16). mf