Monitor: Premier: Slovakia's Living Space in EU, But It Must Be Competitive

(TA3,'V politike', 11 January) Speaking on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said that Slovakia's place is in the EU; we have no other alternative, but measures must be taken within the Union to ensure that it remains strong and competitive. "Decisions must be made in the European Union, and we must ask ourselves: are we going to be players, or are we just going to watch what's happening around us?" asked the premier, adding that the EU's competitiveness is declining, and the only thing the EU knows how to do, according to Fico, is to hate Russians. "There will be changes in Europe because the European Union, if it doesn't recover, is incapable of responding to anything," he stated, adding that the EU has almost 500 million inhabitants, enormous economic power, and could become a superpower. Meanwhile, the premier was critical of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas. "We must replace the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Kallas. This is the first time I'm saying this openly. She knows very well that I've had many critical reservations about her. We're in a crisis, an international crisis, Europe is unable to respond, we don't have our own international positions. We wait 20 hours before issuing a statement on what happened in Venezuela. We need strong leadership, not only at the level of states," said Fico. am