Uhrik: Progressives Leading Us into Isolation, They Reject USA, China and Russia

Bratislava, March 25 (TASR) - The foreign affairs orientation, philosophy and politics of progressive liberals is steering Slovakia towards isolation, as they reject both the United States, China and Russia as well as domestic and European conservative and patriotic forces, MEP and chair of the non-parliamentary far-right 'Republic' party Milan Uhrik has told TASR TV in an interview. Uhrik doesn't subscribe to the view that the USA and the EU should ally themselves against China in particular. "The meaning of our existence shouldn't lie in joining forces against someone, but in trying to arrive at advantageous agreements with our competitors - that's how I'll call both the Russian Federation and USA - aimed at helping us to meet our internal goals instead," he said. The current tariffs policy with which USA is attempting to protect their industry, is not seen in a positive light by Uhrik. "In general, we're against trade wars. They never lead to any good outcomes because each side will adopt some countermeasures," he said. "The United States is applying tariffs against Canada, Mexico, Europe and China, with Europe doing so reciprocally against the United States, but also offensive tariffs against China, and China is entertaining countermeasures." In his view, the United States is currently undergoing a significant political shift at home. "I spent four days among American Republicans at the prestigious international CPAC conference. Formerly a bastion of progressive ideology on issues of culture but also foreign affairs, the America of today is simply changing," he claimed. Uhrik is confident that this change will finally come to Europe as well. At the moment, in his view, "the final bastion of progressive ideology" remains in Brussels. "That's why the European Parliament is in turmoil, the European Commission is running around like a runaway horse. They don't know what to do. Until now, all they've been doing is following the foreign policy of the United States, but that has changed," he said. European institutions have been put in a new situation in which they should make their own decisions, but they're not used to doing that. On Thursday (March 20), leaders of 26 EU countries including Slovakia passed a joint resolution in Brussels to reaffirm the continuation of their support for Ukraine. According to Uhrik, it would have been better if Slovakia had followed Hungary's example and hadn't supported the resolution. "The majority would have passed it anyway, but at least we wouldn't be on the side of those who are now officially calling for Europe to apply a policy of 'peace through power' and calling for the exertion of pressure on Russia via additional sanctions," he said. mf/df