Fico: We'll Never Agree to Changes that Would Lead to Scrapping of Veto in EU

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - The Slovak Republic will never agree to any changes to the fundamental treaties that would lead to the scrapping of the veto of EU member states, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said in response to a journalist's question after the talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Abolishing the veto would be a step towards the scrapping of the EU, according to Fico. "Personally, I also believe that the European Union is a good living space for us, but the development we're currently observing in the European Union is not the most favourable and we'll have to deal with many challenges, such as the issue of scrapping of the veto. I can't imagine that the European Union would function on the principle of decision-making by large powerful states," stated Fico. The Slovak premier said that it's important for the functioning of the EU to respect the sovereignty of member states. He also considers it to be important that countries and leaders of countries aren't afraid to present their opinion, even if it's different. "We don't go there [to the EU Council meetings] just to shout 'no'. We always have a proposal. ... These proposals are for the benefit of the European Union and not against the European Union," he said, adding that the biggest danger for the EU would be if it was made up of governments "that agree with the one single political obligatory view that is in fashion in the European Union today". Orban warned that scrapping the veto would mean the end of the sovereignty of nations. "At the moment, by all sorts of subtle changes to powers, they're depriving member states of their powers, and we don't want that. We want Brussels to show us, as all other member countries, the same respect, not only symbolically, but also by taking our interests into account," he stated. am/mcs