Fico: Czech-Slovak Relations Damaged by Time, Need to Get Specific Content
Czech-Slovak relations have been damaged to a certain extent by the ravages of time, Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on Friday in Prague, adding that he didn't pay his first foreign trip to the Czech Republic just out of courtesy.
Prague/Bratislava, November 24 (TASR-correspondent) - Czech-Slovak relations have been damaged to a certain extent by the ravages of time, Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on Friday in Prague, adding that he didn't pay his first foreign trip to the Czech Republic just out of courtesy, TASR has learnt from its Prague correspondent.
Following the talks with his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala, Fico further said that the Czech Republic and Slovakia have gone through periods of crises since the break up of the common state, including financial and pandemic ones, and there was no room for an inventory of relations or new projects. According to Fico, mutual relations thus need to be given specific content.
Fico characterised his meeting with Fiala as "very interesting". "Our positions are practically the same, with the exception of arms supplies to Ukraine," he said. Fico reiterated that, according to him, military aid to Ukraine doesn't work, to which Fiala replied by saying that he, on the contrary, is convinced of its rightness.
However, the fact that they disagree on something doesn't mean that they cannot cooperate on matters where it is needful, stated Fiala. "We're not here to deepen problems...people want politicians to overcome differences," he explained.
Fico praised the fact that the Czech premier wants to convene the summit of V4 (Visegrad Four - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) premiers as soon as the new Polish government is formed. He also highlighted that the Czech Republic wants to continue in the tradition of joint government sessions. "We must give Czech-Slovak relations specific content, we can't just stay with nostalgic optimism or talking about how nice things were in the past," he added.
Fiala announced that the next joint session of the Czech and Slovak government will be held next spring in the Czech Republic. Fico invited Fiala to visit Slovakia.
Fico started his fist foreign visit in Prague in the Senate, where he met Senate Chair Milos Vystrcil. Subsequently, he met Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marketa Pekarova Adamova and President Petr Pavel. According to the Czech media, he also plans to meet opposition politician and ex-premier Andrej Babis and ex-president Milos Zeman.
The Slovak premier is accompanied on his visit to Prague by Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar, Economy Minister Denisa Sakova and Transport Minister Jozef Raz.
