Kalinak: EU and NATO Have Future If They Can Adapt to Current Conditions

Bratislava, 29 January (TASR) - The European Union (EU) and NATO have a future if they are able to adapt to current conditions, stated Vice-premier and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) during parliamentary question time on Thursday, describing the question of the future of these two organisations as perhaps the most important issue of our time. According to him, the EU will only survive if it returns to its foundations. "My personal estimate is that some forms may change from time to time, but both organisations have a future if they are able to adapt to current conditions," said Kalinak, speaking on behalf of Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), who wasn't present. The vice-premier opined that the EU can't rely on the unilateral and "mostly not entirely rational output of our foreign policy," such as the statements made by the EU's chief diplomat Kaja Kallas. "We must respect the fact that there are superpowers that have their own power interests. This is contrary to international law, and the UN is clearly bleeding. We'll support it, we're trying to be a non-permanent member of the Security Council so that international law can prevail again, because small states have no other chance," he emphasised. According to him, the question is whether the EU will work in such a way that it will become the fourth superpower and begin to assert its own security interests, have sufficient resources of its own and be able to export its goods well and cheaply. am/df