Premier Fico Points to Sufficient Grounds for Not Supporting Pandemic Treaty

Bratislava, 20 May (TASR) - Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated at a Tuesday press conference at the Agriculture Ministry that there are sufficient arguments for Slovakia not to support the pandemic agreement, claiming it contains elements that undermine the sovereignty of member states, disproportionately interfere with human rights, and includes annexes about which nothing is known, adding that the Slovak delegation acted strictly in line with the government's instructions. "A decision was made by the government that the delegation would have a mandate to request a vote on the pandemic treaty and, in that vote, not to support the treaty,” the premier stated. According to him, not supporting the agreement in practice meant voting against it or abstaining. He claimed that this wasn't a "rash decision" by the government, but one made after serious consideration, with the Justice Ministry also providing its opinion. "The delegation did exactly what it was instructed to do by the Slovak government," Fico noted, adding that that Slovakia wasn't the only country that abstained from the vote. He mentioned, for example, Israel, Russia, Italy, and Poland. "There are countries that have issues with the pandemic treaty, 40 countries didn't take part in the vote," the premier said. Later on social media, Fico wrote that the coalition party Voice-SD speaks of the treaty's potential. "There's none. Smer-SD will never support it. It's a bad and dangerous agreement. And I'm proud that we initiated a vote within the World Health Organization (WHO), joined by countries such as Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Israel," Fico added. According to him, Voice-SD had "begged on its knees" for Slovakia to abstain from the vote on the pandemic treaty [and not to vote against the pandemic treaty - ed. note]. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally adopted an international agreement on pandemic prevention and control at its annual meeting in Geneva. The adoption followed a vote on Monday evening (19 May) by Committee A of the World Health Assembly on a resolution recommending the treaty's approval. The resolution was passed with the support of 124 countries. No country voted against it, but 11 countries—including Slovakia, Iran, Israel, Russia, Italy, and Poland—abstained. lin