Stoltenberg: NATO Will Never Interfere in Domestic Political Matters

Bratislava, June 6 (TASR) - The North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) is there to protect democracy, openness and freedom; it will never interfere in domestic political affairs, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday in connection with Smer-SD's statements that NATO's communication campaign may interfere with the election campaign in Slovakia. At a press conference with Prime Minister Ludovit Odor, Stoltenberg emphasised that the campaign is a transparent activity organised by NATO in coordination with the national authorities of the given country. "NATO organises various information campaigns in different countries, it's a completely normal thing," he noted, adding that a similar campaign was held in Slovakia in 2017. "It's part of our agreement with our allies," he stated. The premier doesn't understand why there's such hysteria around the campaign. According to him, this is no secret activity and similar campaigns are organised by the European Commission, for example, to talk about the benefits of our membership in the EU. It makes no sense to him if someone supports our NATO membership and at the same time questions the Alliance's activities. Over the weekend, Smer-SD head Robert Fico drew attention to NATO's communication campaign called Why Ukraine Matters, claiming that, among other things, its goal is to increase the number of Slovaks who support military aid to Ukraine. He considers it to be an intervention in the election campaign, since it is to be implemented over the summer and is intended for people in the age and educational category that copies Smer-SD voters. Fico requests that NATO postpone the campaign until after the parliamentary election in September. At the same time, he emphasised that Smer-SD respects Slovakia's membership in NATO and the fulfilment of our obligations. On Tuesday, Fico addressed an open letter to the NATO secretary general, in which he asks him to scrap the public tender that NATO announced for the campaign. am/mcs