The international military support for Ukraine just suffered a tremendous blow in neighboring Slovakia.
Leftist Robert Fico has been appointed Slovakia’s prime minister for the fourth time by President Zuzana Čaputová.
Fico is set to attend an EU summit in Brussels this week, where his Slovakia-first populist’s policies will give the other European leaders an early indication of how obstructive the relationship is poised to be.
As soon as President Čaputová formally approved the new three-party coalition government led by Fico, Fico acted on his pledges to end military aid to Ukraine, slash immigration and defend Slovakian sovereignty.
The Guardian reported:
“’We will be a constructive government. You will see sovereign Slovak foreign policy, Fico said at the ceremony. Čaputová told the new prime minister he was ‘not just taking over power, but also responsibility for the republic and its citizens’.
Analysts expect the country to move closer to the unashamedly nationalist policies of Hungary, whose illiberal leader, Viktor Orbán, Fico has said he admires – although many question how far he will follow through on his campaign rhetoric.
Fico’s Smer party finished first in last month’s ballot, with 23% of the vote, and formed a coalition with Hlas, a breakaway party led by the prime minister’s former deputy, Peter Pellegrini, and the ultra-nationalist Slovak National party (SNS).”
Čaputová rejected the coalition’s first choice for environment minister, a climate skeptic – which is perhaps an indication of how disruptive they can get.
“Fico backs humanitarian and reconstruction help for Ukraine but no further military aid. He also opposes Western sanctions on Moscow and wants the EU to force peace talks, a line similar to Orbán’s that is rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.”
Fico seems intent on tackling his campaign priorities: cutting Slovakia’s deficit, protecting national interests and cutting down illegal immigration.
While he attacked Brussels and the US on the campaign trail, Fico has also consistently said will not take the country out of the EU or of NATO.
Sputnik reported:
“Slovakia will not provide military assistance to Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday.
‘We support humanitarian and civil assistance to Ukraine — this will be the official policy of my cabinet. We will not supply Ukraine with any weapons’, Fico said during a meeting with lawmakers.”
Slovakia now stands for a prompt peace in Ukraine. Russia and the United States are the ones who should agree on this issue, Fico added.
“‘I am in favor of ending hostilities, and I do not care what the plan is. What they agree on — a matter for Russians and Americans. You know that Ukrainians do not play any role here — what the Russians and the Americans will agree on, this will be valid, I want there to be peace. I do not support any of Zelenskyy’s plans, because they are absolutely unrealistic in terms of the conditions that are being put forward’, Fico said.
[…] ‘The European Union should change its role from a supplier of weapons [to Ukraine], which it is now, into a peacemaker’, Fico highlighted.”
By Paul Serran