Fico: I Presented Slovakia's Budgetary Priorities at EU Summit

Brussels/Bratislava, 19 December (TASR-correspondent) – Slovakia will push to protect the interests of farmers and the cohesion policy when the EU long-term budget for 2028–2034 is being prepared, said Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) after the two-day EU summit in Brussels, a special TASR correspondent reports. At the European Council meeting, Fico reiterated Slovakia's positions, focused mainly on safeguarding farmers' interests and continuing the cohesion policy, which he said means securing sufficient resources to reduce regional disparities. "I want to say that we'll have to make huge compromises; we simply have to show understanding for one another," said the prime minister. He added that the planned volume of the long-term budget is €2 trillion, which means net contributors such as Germany, as well as smaller countries like Malta, are expected to significantly increase their contributions. According to him, for some countries this means an increase of up to 60 percent, and for others up to 100 percent. "The compromise must be that if we have ambitions, we have to talk about where we'll get the resources for everything the European Commission has planned. We're very far from agreement," he said about the situation. He added that there are efforts to reach an agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework by the end of 2026, but he expressed doubts that this will succeed given the large number of conflicting views. "This is such a serious matter that in the end we'll have to agree, but it will require a great deal of compromise and also a great deal of respect for differing opinions," he said. During discussions among leaders on competitiveness, Fico said that he shares the same view as Slovak entrepreneurs at home: it's impossible to talk about competitiveness, even with regard to demanding climate targets, unless the problem of energy prices is resolved. "If we don't resolve this, we'll have no chance of success. I'd like to illustrate this with the example of Slovalco from Ziar nad Hronom. Due to nonsensical targets, a company in Slovakia employing 500 people was closed down. A company that was modern and ecological and capable of producing 17 percent of EU aluminium consumption. And we let it close down. Not us, but EU nonsense let it close," said the prime minister. In this context, he recalled that his government is negotiating with the owners, an international group, and is seeking ways to remedy the situation and find options for the company, which he described as a "textbook example" of how an ecologically modern enterprise offering a strategic raw material needed in the EU can be destroyed. "My ambition is for aluminium to continue to be produced in Slovakia. We're looking for solutions, but I refuse to slam the door shut in the way that the previous government did," said the prime minister. mf/df