Kalinak: Premier Hasn't Changed His Rhetoric on Ukraine's EU Membership

(TA3,'V politike', 10 May) Speaking on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, Vice-premier and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak said that Premier Robert Fico (both Smer-SD) hasn't changed his rhetoric regarding support for Ukraine’s membership of the European Union, pointing out that Smer-SD party and its leader have been consistently expressing their opinions on this issue for a long time. "Robert Fico has not changed a single word of what he has been saying for the past three years," said Kalinak in response to attacks by Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko, who sees the premier's recent actions and statements as signalling a more accommodating stance towards a potential acceleration of Ukraine's integration process. The SNS leader even threatened to quit the government. The vice-premier stressed that Smer-SD has always been supporting Ukraine's EU perspective provided that it meets all conditions for a candidate country. "Ukraine is currently unable to fulfil many of the conditions for the EU accession," he said, adding that he views the issue as unrealistic for several years. Kalinak therefore sees Danko's criticism as a "hyperbolisation of the issue", adding that Smer-SD is familiar with this kind of Danko's approach. "Every political party lives its own political life and seeks to attract the attention of its voters," remarked Kalinak. MP and Progressive Slovakia (PS) vice-chair Tomas Valasek, also on the show, thinks that Danko's statements are an attempt to score political points, too. However, he does not believe his threats about a possible departure from the governing coalition. The discussion also touched on the issue of the suspension of construction of the Presov hospital. The minister confirmed that the problem concerned the concrete, specifically its technological processing. "The expertise should therefore confirm whether the fault occurred during the production of the concrete or its improper use," stated Kalinak. He believes that work will resume soon. He assumes that a small part of columns embed in concrete will need to be rebuilt. Valasek stated that the problems with the construction of the Presov hospital reflect the government's inability to manage the country and move it forward. "Minister Kalinak was tasked with building this hospital so that it would be at least one tangible thing the government could point to at the end of its term. Yet they haven't even managed to do that," noted Valasek. ko