Fico Refuses Opposition Claims on Slovakia's Bad Condition, Refers to Rating

Bratislava, 26 October (TASR) - Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has rejected opposition claims that Slovakia is in a bad condition, referring to Standard & Poor's (S&P) rating that, according to him, confirms the government's responsible approach to public finances. "No one is perfect. Yes, we have many problems, but I refuse dirt being thrown on the Slovak Republic like this without any reasons and especially in the name of the 'harm and lie' philosophy, when a question of total unpreparedness is often behind it," Fico told a news conference held on Sunday in response to the opposition parties' assessment of two years of his government. Fico rejected the claims by opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) leader Michal Simecka that Slovakia is "pulling competitiveness of the entire European Union (EU) down". "Is the minimum wage growing? Yes, it is. Are pensions being paid out? Yes, they are," he said. According to the premier, the assessments by the opposition and the media are at odds with the real image of the country."We have two worlds - the world of the opposition and anti-government media, which talk about collapse, and the world of international assessments, which confirm the stability of Slovakia," he stated. Fico pointed out that Slovakia is facing the European Commission's (EC) infringement for failing to transpose the new ETS2 emissions trading system into national legislation. He called it a "senseless system" that has negative impacts on households and transport. "Previous governments voted for this nonsense and today we're facing infringement for refusing to fully transpose it," stated Fico, adding that Slovakia is one of the 15 EU member states demanding this system to be revised. The premier expressed his interest in convening a meeting of the Visegrad Four (V4 - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) countries, first at the level of foreign ministers, then at the level of premiers. He wants to resume "the maximum possible dynamics of the V4's functioning". "I think that after the elections in the Czech Republic, we'll find many issues where the V4 countries will have the same positions, as they did a few years ago (...) We need to return to the time when the V4 was an important regional organisation that, able to promote its interests within the EU," he said. At the same time, Fico said he won't let Slovakia join any EU schemes to finance military aid to Ukraine. He claims that the Union plans to provide Kiev with €140 billion in the upcoming years, calling it "the biggest mistake the EU has ever made". ko