SNS: Fico Should No Longer Cooperate with Ex-Minister Lajcak as His Advisor

Bratislava, 15 November (TASR) - The coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) calls on Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to end cooperation with his adviser and former foreign affairs minister Miroslav Lajcak, according to the party's statement provided to TASR by SNS spokesperson Zuzana Skopcova on Saturday in connection with Lajcak's communication with late US financier Jeffrey Epstein. "Lajcak was the minister of foreign affairs and he held, between 2016 and 2020, a high post at the UN on behalf of the Slovak Republic. SNS, being a part of this government, holds the view that it is a scandal if the country's foreign minister and top state official regularly provided information about developments and internal matters of the Slovak government to a person who intentionally obtained such information and passed it on to another government. The fact that Lajcak has publicly admitted having communicated with this person and, according to the content of the messages, also met with him personally is beyond imagination," stated SNS. The junior coalition party also insists on Lajcak's dismissal as prime minister's adviser. "SNS does not want to judge whether the minister gained any benefits from providing such information. Lajcak cannot serve as an adviser to the prime minister in any area. SNS demands this as a coalition partner and believes that the prime minister will not ignore our request," added SNS. At the same time, SNS again urged current Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) to review all communications of the ministry to the address in question and to inform the competent authorities about any potential leakage of information that may pose a threat to the security of the state. The Oversight Committee of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday (12 November) published thousands of pages of documents related to the case of the late US financier Epstein. The documents include email communications allegedly exchanged between then Slovak foreign minister Lajcak and Epstein. Lajcak told TASR on Friday that he engaged with US financier Jeffrey Epstein in the past only in social communication as part of his diplomatic duties, noting that the opening of Epstein's case by the US justice system concerning the abuse of minors took place only after Lajcak's departure from New York in 2018. He also strongly condemned Epstein's actions, which, he pointed out, only came to light in their entirety after the financier's arrest. In response to SNS chair Andrej Danko's call to review the communication, the ministry stated it wouldn't intervene with its statements in any investigation, be it now or in the future, and recommended that questions concerning the matter at hand be addressed to Lajcak himself. jrg