PM Fico: I'm Premier with Direct Ties to Both Putin and Zelenskyy

Bratislava, 4 July (TASR) – In a situation where the world order has collapsed and military force has become the only rule, small countries such as Slovakia must act in a very pragmatic and rational way, focusing on dialogue and a foreign policy in all four cardinal directions, Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview for TASR TV, adding that he is a prime minister with direct ties to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "I think we need to engage in normal dialogue with both of them," stated Fico, noting that he currently doesn't see sufficient willingness in the European Union (EU) to talk about ending the war, as the bloc seems to be leaning towards a 'peace through strength' approach. "But I don't believe in this, as this war has no military solution," added Fico. He criticised EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, saying that "it's clear that she doesn't have the capacity to conduct the kind of dialogue the EU needs today. But I must objectively say that in order to have the right to conduct dialogue, you need the support of member states. At this moment, however, there's no support for such dialogue," said Fico, adding that a politician serving as the EU's foreign affairs minister should possess greater informal authority than Kallas. "This is a time when we need a strong politician from a large state in the position of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs," he said, citing former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy as examples in the past. As Hungary no longer blocks the opening of the first cluster of EU accession talks with Ukraine, which officially started in June, Fico said that peace is an absolute prerequisite for Ukraine's EU accession, noting that "no one will accept a country's accession to the EU while it is involved in a military conflict," he said. He also intends to personally promote peace as a priority in the policy of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) under Slovakia's V4 presidency as of 1 July. "To those four priorities that we have defined – competitiveness, EU enlargement, interpersonal relations and practical issues – I'm adding peace," stressed Fico. According to him, Ukraine shouldn't enjoy any special advantages compared with the Western Balkan candidate countries, which have been holding accession talks for many years. After the war ends, there is a risk that Ukraine will have a large number of trained soldiers with access to weapons but without prospects, which might lead to a rise in organised crime. "I wouldn't like Slovakia to have as its neighbour a country where organised crime flourishes, which is why Ukraine must have some perspective - and I hope it has the prospect of becoming a democratic, peaceful and safe country that seeks membership of the EU," stated Fico. He added that Slovakia is keen to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but is also interested in pragmatic cooperation as part of joint projects discussed at joint meetings of the Slovak and Ukrainian governments. According to him, the next joint session could be held in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. Despite the fact that 2026 is a pre-election year, the cabinet plans to adopt consolidation measures as well as measures to support economic growth. However, Fico said there's a problem with the low competitiveness of Slovakia's largest trading partners in the EU due to high energy prices. "Next year, Slovakia's economic growth will exceed that of the eurozone or the EU average. We're ramping up car production, so this will help us," Fico said. He rejected the view that the government should support businesses by scrapping the transaction tax at the expense of pensioners who would lose the 13th pension payment. However, he's willing to debate the transaction tax with businesses, if there's another source of funding to offset the revenue shortfall, such as improved tax collection. The government is considering measures to help the self-employed, including tax super-deductions for companies supporting science and research. Fico stated that he wants to hand over healthy public finances to the next government, but considers a balanced budget to be an unrealistic target. "We want to propose and approve a budget that will meet the demanding criteria expected of a eurozone country," added Fico. jrg/ko