PS: Prime Minister Fico Acts Like Geopolitical Illiterate

Bratislava, April 16 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) talks and acts like a geopolitical illiterate, thinks Progressive Slovakia. "He wants orientation to all four cardinal directions, hence, also to Russia, with which his [foreign affairs] minister recently shook hands. And he also wants to be firmly anchored in the EU and NATO, too," stated PS vice-chair and House Foreign Affairs Committee vice-chair Tomas Valasek in response to Fico's visit to the Foreign Affairs Ministry earlier in the day. "That's not how it can be done, Prime Minister. The rest of the EU and NATO is clear on the fact that Russia is not a friend but a threat to Europe. It attacked neighbouring Ukraine and it's attempting to dictate terms on when, with whom and how we can defend ourselves from security threats," said Valasek. PS warned that Slovakia is quickly losing allies and finds itself excluded from delicate conversations on topics such as Russia or aid for Ukraine. "It has taken Fico's government mere months to destroy what we were building for decades. They're harming Slovak interests out of exclusively selfish reasons. They're already in control of all power positions in Slovakia and so they're trying to generate enemies abroad as well. But for some inexplicable reason they're choosing those who are our closest allies," claimed Lubica Karvasova. "In a normal government, this would make the foreign minister ripe for ouster," added Valasek. After his visit to the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry, Fico declared that the concept of sovereign Slovak foreign affairs policy must continue. The basis of this policy, in Fico's view, is orientation towards all four cardinal directions. Fico claimed that the government and opposition holds diametrically opposite views on several issues concerning the EU and NATO and underlined that he rejects the scrapping of the right to veto of EU member states, rejects the new EU migration pact and wants different solutions to illegal migration. mf/mcs