Fico: Parliament Should Also Discuss EC Proposal on Frozen Russian Assets

Luanda, 24 November (TASR) - The European Commission's (EC) proposal to 'confiscate' frozen Russian assets and use them for Ukraine's military needs is so serious and has such consequences that it should be discussed by the Slovak Parliament before the European Council (EC) meeting, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in a video posted on social media on Monday after an informal European Council summit on the US peace plan for Ukraine. The premier explained that this informal summit took place on the sidelines of the European Union-African Union (AU) summit in Luanda, Angola. Fico said that he personally supported the US plan and that, according to him, the entire Slovak government did so as well via a resolution. "We consider it to be a good basis for a peace agreement and see it as confirmation of the correctness of all our previous peace positions on the war in Ukraine. Once again, it shows that we were right. The summit updated the situation regarding the peace plan and evaluated a whole series of negotiations that have taken place on this peace plan," said the prime minister. According to Fico, there are different opinions on the war in Ukraine, and he considers the most important thing to be to stop the senseless killing of Slavs, which should be a priority. The premier noted that negotiations on the US peace plan cannot proceed without Ukraine, "because we're facing another Munich." According to him, the nations of the former Czechoslovakia should be particularly sensitive to any decision on the fate of another state without its free consent. A lot of EU-member states are willing to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine's military needs, but Fico doesn't consider this decision to be the best one. According to him, it could lead to serious legal disputes and Russian retaliation, but it would also send a clear signal that "the EU continues to support the war". The premier added that the US peace plan is counting on these frozen assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. "I've therefore called for caution so that we don't jeopardise the possibility of reaching a peace agreement with a premature European decision, which is, apart from other things, particularly controversial on the confiscation of frozen Russian assets, if the use of Russian assets for reconstructing Ukraine is to be a key element of such an agreement," said Fico. The European Commission's proposal on the use of frozen Russian assets will be discussed by the European Council on 19 December. am/df