Fico: We should not ignore the EU, but neither should we be part of the incompetence of its leadership

Brussels/Bratislava – In general, it applies that we should not ignore the European Union, but we should also not be part of the incompetence of its leadership. This was declared before the extraordinary Thursday summit of the European Council in Brussels by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. He pointed out that he is in favor of the EU and appreciates the positive impact of Slovakia’s membership in the EU on its development, TASR reports.

The President of the European Council António Costa convened a summit of the leaders of the EU member states for Thursday evening. The reason was the threats of US President Donald Trump related to Greenland, which he wants to acquire for the United States, and he therefore threatened to impose tariffs on several European countries.

According to Robert Fico, Costa organized the meeting to calm the panic of some member states. The Prime Minister called the summit a “super expensive dinner.” He does not expect any decisions to be taken. He added that it was not known in advance when the European Council meeting would end.

In a video recorded on the government’s special aircraft, the Prime Minister repeated his criticism of the EU leadership and recalled that he had openly protested against the nomination of former Estonian Prime Minister Kaje Kallasovej to the post of EU foreign policy chief and that he had recently called for her replacement. At the same time, he praised the MEPs from the Smer-SD party for again voting to dismiss the President of the European Commission Ursuly von der Leyenovej.

“I am for the EU, I appreciate the positive impact that EU membership has had on our development so far. But that cannot mean that I will be pro-Brussels and slowed down, as we see in the case of the current anti-Slovak and purely pro-Brussels opposition,” Fico said, adding that “the Union cannot be led by people whom the key global players do not meet and do not argue with in a good way.” In this context, he pointed out that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had repeatedly refused to meet with Kallasová.

“We can only emerge from the deep crisis in which the EU finds itself with new leadership and new ideas. Three things are downgrading us – because of exaggerated climate goals we cannot compete with China or the global South. We are unable to handle illegal migration, where the US President Donald Trump with his uncompromising stance on illegal migrants should be our model. And we have no courage to express our own opinion on fundamental foreign policy issues,” Fico stated.

According to him, the current EU leadership does not offer any answer to any of these questions, and therefore it must be replaced. “This is not a spiteful or personal remark, this is political reality,” he added, declaring that in his view “exactly the same applies to the EU as to a massage parlor. If it is not doing well, it is not enough to change the beds, you have to change the staff,” he added. (22 January)

“The European Union cannot be led by people whom the key global players do not meet and do not argue with in a good way. We can only emerge from the deep crisis in which the EU finds itself with new leadership and new ideas.” Robert Fico