Andrej Danko: Slovaks Aren't German Slaves, Merz Forgets Slovakia Isn't Colony

Bratislava, 27 May (TASR) - Slovaks are not German slaves, said Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko on Tuesday in response to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's statement that Germany may propose in Brussels to cut EU funding to Slovakia if it continues to drift away from the EU's common direction. "The Germans are telling us that if we don't obey, if we have our own opinion, they'll take away our EU funds. As if it weren't enough what the powerful states in the European Union are doing, as if it weren't enough that they've devised a deliberate system to cut off Eastern countries from cheap energy and make them lose their competitiveness," said Danko. According to the SNS leader, the Germans and the French are bothered by the fact that they can no longer maintain the standard way of living they've become used to. "They have a huge number of immigrants and a high social standard that Germans can no longer afford. We all know very well what some German companies are doing here — they produce goods in Slovakia, but the profits go back to Germany. Nevertheless, we value every German investment and every partnership," he stressed. "I can't imagine any chancellor in the European Union speaking this way about another country. The German chancellor seems to forget that Slovakia isn't a colony," Danko noted. "I believe, however, that our Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) and our government will make it clear at the next meeting in Brussels that the German Chancellor is no more important than our Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and that he must respect us. I'm deeply sorry that the German Chancellor doesn't realise that such statements are what divide the European Union. We're not your slaves, and I believe that Germany understands this," added the SNS leader. Fico strongly rejected the statements made by Merz, calling them unacceptable in modern Europe during his visit to Armenia on Tuesday. Blanar added that Merz's approach is unacceptable, emphasising that when a member state raises objections, it does so from a position of sovereignty, and in such cases, the appropriate response is a dialogue. lin