PM Fico to Meet Magyar and Zelenskyy ahead of European Council Summit

Bratislava, 18 June (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced at the House European affairs committee session held on Thursday that he's due to meet his Hungarian counterpart Peter Magyar for the first time ahead of the European Council summit, and he's also scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "I assume that we'll primarily discuss Ukraine's EU-accession process," said Fico with regard to his talks with Zelenskyy, during which he also wants to discuss the next joint session of the Slovak and Ukrainian governments. According to the Slovak prime minister, Zelenskyy has suggested that it should be held in Kiev, while Fico would rather have Bratislava as the venue. However, he expects that a compromise will be found, suggesting that both governments could meet on Ukraine's territory. "Today, my first personal meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar is ahead of us," said Fico, adding that he hasn't had an opportunity to meet him yet. He also expects to meet Magyar in Budapest next week on the occasion of Hungary handing over the Visegrad Four (V4) presidency to Slovakia. Fico also spoke of a reputational problem for Slovakia related to distraint proceedings initiated by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) against civil association Projekt Forum led by Marta Simeckova, the mother of Fico's main political rival and leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party Michal Simecka. "There's demonstrable fraud involving the use of these funds," said Fico, stating that wants to meet EACEA representatives regarding the distraint proceedings. Meanwhile, Simecka has described the matter as ridiculous, stressing that Fico is taking advantage of it to distract attention from issues such as Slovakia potentially losing European funds due to problems with the funding of luxury villas. Fico also stated that he sees no reason not to support the European Council's conclusions on Ukraine, while reiterating that Slovakia won't donate weapons or provide financial assistance to its eastern neighbour. He also intends to propose to the Council that a direct communication line should be established between Russia and Ukraine. According to him, he's never opposed Ukraine's interest in joining the EU. "The government I lead won't support any shortcuts, exemptions or ways of bypassing the standard accession process to the EU. Ukraine must comply with all the conditions," he said, adding that the EU isn't capable of playing a decisive role in negotiating peace in Ukraine. Fico also considers it to be a huge mistake that former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder was rejected as a mediator in peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, suggesting that this position should be held by "someone who knows both sides". He noted that Schroder's involvement in the region is well known and that the idea should be revisited, but House committee member and opposition MP Veronika Remisova ('Slovakia'-'For the people' caucus) described Fico's suggestion as "detached from reality". jrg/df