Monitor: Fico and Kollar Concur on Need to Reintroduce Border Checks

(TA3, 'V politike', September 24) Chairmen of 'We Are Family' and Smer-SD, Boris Kollar and Robert Fico, respectively, concurred on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday on the necessity to reintroduce checks at the border with Hungary. Kollar claimed that although 'We Are Family' is a solidarity-based party, it has zero tolerance for economic migrants. In their view, it's only a matter of time when illegal migrants stop transiting through Slovakia and decide to settle down one day instead. Because of this, Kollar promised measures to "shut down the border, so that they won't wander about here and we'll be very tough about this". Fico expects Germany to introduce checks at the border with the Czech Republic, which means that the Czech Republic will automatically reintroduce checks at the border with Slovakia. "Now is the time to start guarding the Slovak-Hungarian borders," said Fico, adding that the situation might even warrant the use of force. Kollar perceives as overreaction Smer-SD's plan to initiate impeachment of President Zuzana Caputova after the 2023 parliamentary election. If any crime had actually taken place, Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka would have had to take action already back in 2021. Fico responded by pointing out that the head of state has immunity from prosecution. He added that the President has no power over the Prosecutor-General and no authority to ask anything from him or interfere with live cases. Fico reiterated that Slovakia should send no weapons to Ukraine. He claimed that it's better to hold peace negotiations for a decade than keep sending weapons for a decade, only to arrive at the peace talks at the end anyway. According to Fico, the geopolitical situation is changing and Slovakia cannot afford to maintain static positions. EU, in his view, should do its utmost to put an immediate stop to military operations. In his reaction, Kollar warned that if we let anyone annex land of other countries, the whole world will start to fall apart. mf