President of Slovakia: Both coalition and opposition refuse to send troops to Ukraine, disagree on EU aid

Bratislava – Coalition and opposition leaders agreed that they reject sending Slovak soldiers to a possible peace mission in Ukraine, which several European Union countries are considering, however, they differ on contributions to aid Ukraine within the EU. President of the Slovak Republic Peter Pellegrini informed about this after Wednesday’s round table, which he convened on the topic of defense and security. The President wants to further discuss increasing defense spending with representatives of parliamentary parties. The meeting in the same format should be repeated before the NATO summit in The Hague in June, reports the TASR.

“I am glad that we all agreed that Slovakia will not send any soldiers to Ukraine, whether for a peace mission or any mission, and that increasing spending is a big topic that we will still discuss,” stated the president. The further discussion on defense spending is to cover not only the volume of resources but also the pace at which they could grow and what they should include. He explained Slovakia’s negative stance on sending soldiers to Ukraine as the reason why Slovakia, unlike other EU countries, is not being invited by other countries to the so-called coalition of willing countries’ summits.

Participants of the round table agreed on the need to strengthen the European pillar of the North Atlantic Alliance. They agree that if the United States no longer wants to operate in NATO or wishes to limit its operations, Slovakia must be part of a possible new independent European security model.

However, the coalition and opposition differ on the topic of contributions to aid Ukraine within the European Union.

“While the coalition clearly indicates that Slovakia should not voluntarily contribute additional financial resources to this package, some opposition political parties express the position that Slovakia could do more in relation to Ukraine and help it more significantly,” Pellegrini assessed the situation.

The president appreciated the constructive course of the negotiations. He considers defense and security to be strategic topics that need to be discussed across the political spectrum. He also justified the meeting with the effort to present a broader stance at NATO meetings, as some decisions will impact more than one electoral period. The political parties Smer-SD, Hlas-SD, SNS, PS, KDH, and SaS were represented. In addition to the leaders of political parties, he also invited the Minister of Defense Robert Kaliňák (Smer-SD) and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic Daniel Zmeko. (March 26).