Premier: Slovakia Has Right to Decide its Own Pace of Defence Spending

Bratislava, 24 June (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) is convinced that any goal NATO is going to approve on Tuesday will never be fulfilled "down to the last detail" and reiterated that every country has the right to set its own pace and structure of defense spending, TASR learnt on the same day. Speaking with respect to the ongoing NATO summit in the Hague, Fico declared that Slovakia can meet the capabilities - expected within NATO - even on the existing budget of the Slovak Defence Ministry. „Slovakia has the sovereign right to decide what pace and what structure of defense spending we will have in our plan. At the same time, we guarantee that the two percent currently in the budget is sufficient to fulfill the capabilities that the NATO expects from us," Fico stated. mf