Ivan Korcok to Support PS, KDH, SaS and Democrats in EP Elections

Bratislava, April 30 (TASR) - Ivan Korcok, who finished as runner-up in the recent presidential election in Slovakia, held a news conference on Tuesday to announce that in the European Parliament (EP) elections he will support the parties that supported and actively helped him in his presidential candidacy. The parties concerned are the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS), Christian Democrats (KDH) and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) parties and the extra-parliamentary 'Democrats' party. "These are the parties that, despite having varying attitudes towards domestic policy, are united by the fact that they are absolutely clear about where Slovakia belongs, even though they are critical of some EU policies," stated Korcok. According to him, PS, KDH, SaS and Democrats view the EU as an important project and don't question Slovakia's place in it even in their criticism. Korcok has called for support for female candidates on the parties' slates. He plans to comment on his political future after the EP elections. Concerning the 20th anniversary of Slovakia joining the EU, he said that the peace part of the European project has succeeded. He stressed that the EU is doing well in providing prosperity and peace and preventing military solutions to disputes between member countries. Korcok pointed out that during Slovakia's 20-year membership of the EU, it's experienced it during crises for more than 15 years. These were the financial crisis, Brexit, the migration crisis, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The Union is far from being a perfectly functioning institution, stated Korcok. "It is appropriate to name critically the things that we have a problem with, but this should be done on the basis of arguments and not ideological slogans," he stressed. Korcok views the current government's attitudes towards the EU to be bizarre, dangerous and contradictory to Slovakia's national interests. Korcok has called on the Slovak government to define at least one reason, apart from money, why EU membership is vitally important to Slovakia. The government should also translate the thesis about Slovakia's sovereignty into understandable language and clearly name what it wants to change in the EU, why and with which allies it wants to attempt this. The EP elections in Slovakia will be held on Saturday, June 8. Twenty-three parties and one coalition are running in them. Slovaks will elect their 15 MEPs for the period of five years. ko/df