Danko: Nationalism Shouldn't Break European Union

Nationalism should not break the European Union, Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) said before the meeting of opposition We Are Family party’s representatives with French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen due to take place later on Monday.

“We should reform the EU, try to fix what unites us. We shouldn’t allow the EU to be broken,” said Danko. He believes that the EU will be more united after the May European Parliament elections and that “it will have strong leaders who will be partners of [US President Donald] Trump and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and will be able to represent our interests”.

Danko declined to comment on other politicians or the fact that We Are Family is campaigning ahead of the EP elections in this way. However, he stressed that the national feeling shouldn’t be egoist, adding there’s a big difference between patriotism and nationalism.

The French politician is hosted by We Are Family. Its leader Boris Kollar said there are three values that connect them – protection of the EU borders, protection of traditions and protection of labour. Most-Hid leader Bela Bugar during the weekend reacted that the border between patriotism and nationalism is very thin. “A patriot, for example, talks about the protection of traditions, while a nationalist or extremist talks about their protection at the expense of others. That’s the difference and Le Pen wants to do it at the expense of others,” said Bugar.