Fico Seeks Pro-Growth Deals with Coalition Partners, Rules Out Ukraine Loans
Bratislava, May 3 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) wants to use Tuesday and Wednesday (May 5-6) to seek agreements on pro-growth measures within the coalition, with the first legislative proposals expected at the May-June parliamentary session.
Fico said this in a video on social media.
"These will essentially be measures without an impact on the state budget and measures where we already planned some expenditure," he noted. However, Fico does not want to present partial proposals until they are agreed by the governing coalition.
According to Fico, the coalition is also working on options for a joint approach in municipal elections. "Where appropriate and possible, I would welcome a bloc of parties with similar views on local and regional challenges and a suitable candidate in these elections," the prime minister said. He believes independent candidates and strong personalities are going to dominate the autumn elections.
The prime minister also announced that Slovakia will not take part in any further announced loans for Ukraine. He pointed out that Slovakia is Ukraine's neighbour, which obliges it to conduct dialogue and seek solutions that do not harm Slovak-Ukrainian relations. The format of joint government meetings is, in his view, a good tool to support mutually beneficial projects.
"Relations between me and the Ukrainian president are marked by fundamentally different views on several issues, such as the war in Ukraine, halted gas transit, or military loans. It is well known worldwide that as prime minister I refused to support the latest €90 billion war loan for Ukraine and took legal steps to ensure Slovakia will not participate in it," Fico said.
He underlined that it is in the country's national interest to route oil and gas transit through Ukraine to Central Europe using Slovakia's transport network. Fico added that the coalition has never discussed Ukraine's membership of the EU, and he respects that there may be opposing views within the coalition on this issue.
"Following the climate in the EU, I can state that the countries most opposed to Ukraine's EU membership will be those that are the biggest supporters of Ukraine in the war against Russia. It is a harsh paradox that Ukraine must take into account," the prime minister said.
If Ukraine does not have prospects for stable and democratic development after the war, mercenaries from Ukraine may, in his view, turn to organised crime, which can spill over into the EU.
EU enlargement must continue, according to the prime minister. He supports Serbia, Montenegro and Albania in gaining membership and intends to express this support at Monday's (May 4) summit in Armenia.
Fico also congratulated Slovak ice hockey players who won silver at the Under-18 World Championship. He added that he recently met Slovak Ice Hockey Federation head Miroslav Satan and confirmed that despite fiscal consolidation, the government will allocate funds this year for two more regional hockey academies modelled on the one in Trencin, which his government has already supported.
