Premier: Shared Competence in Public Health Matters Lies with EU Countries

Bratislava, 15 March (TASR) - The European Union (EU) has neither exclusive nor shared competence in matters of public health; this competence lies with individual member states, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has stated this in a video on social media in connection with the government's refusal to accept a revision to the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR). "The regulations govern procedures for cross-border pandemics. They create legal conditions, for example, for the possibility of mandatory vaccination, restrictions on the movement of people, the compulsory procurement of medical products designated by the WHO, and other similar interventions in the sovereignty of individual states," said Fico. He finds it strange that the European Union asked member states to accept the revised IHR without reservations. As of 1 March, 11 more countries had rejected them, said the premier. He recalled that Government Proxy for Investigating COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar had warned about their risks as well. In the video, Fico also pointed out that the opposition has refused to join a letter he intended to send, on behalf of all parliamentary parties, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in connection with the Druzhba oil pipeline. "I assumed that Slovakia's energy security stands above all party interests and that we will together urge Zelenskyy to stop harming Slovakia, to allow a visit to the allegedly damaged oil pipeline in Ukraine so that we could jointly repair it with EU money, if it is really damaged, and to ensure that oil supplies to Slovakia and Hungary are resumed as soon as possible," said the premier. Fico claims that, the European Commission (EC) is formally on Slovakia's side in this dispute. However, Fico says he doesn't feel there's sufficient pressure exerted on the Ukrainian president. "President Zelenskyy has crossed all red lines, and a legitimate question must arise as to whose interests are more important to the EC, the European Parliament and the European Council - those of Ukraine, or those raised by EU member states, added the premier. At the same time, he responded to the opposition's criticism that Slovakia has high fuel prices. "We still have some of the cheapest fuel, and the government, in cooperation with the Slovnaft refinery, will do its utmost to keep up with our V4 (Visegrad Four - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) neighbours and to ensure that prices remain lower than in Austria," noted Fico. ko