Fico: Tragic That V4 Cooperation Has Been Deliberately Disabled

Budapest, January 16 (TASR-correspondent) - The fact that cooperation within the Visegrad Four (V4 - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) has been deliberately disabled is tragic, said Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following his talks with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban in Budapest on Tuesday.
        Fico at the same time claimed that he'll pressure the Czech V4 Presidency to convene a meeting of the V4 prime ministers to address joint issues.
        "The V4 and the cooperation within it has been intentionally disabled, as it is evident that when four countries representing a 65 million population within the EU are together, they can assert things that they as individual countries wouldn't be able to assert," stated Fico. According to him, the meeting of the V4 premiers shouldn't be formal, but issues important for these countries should be discussed at it.
        The Slovak and Hungarian governments share the same views on many issues, including Ukraine and the rejection of the EU migration pact, said the Slovak premier. According to him, Slovakia and Hungary also have the same opinion on the future of the European Union in relation to the right of veto. "If EU member states are deprived of the right of veto and decisions on fundamental political and security issues will be made by any majority, that is the beginning of the end of the EU," said Fico. In such a case, there would be a "dictation of the big in relation to the small ones" and it would be impossible to talk about sovereignty and the protection of state interests, he added.
        The two premiers also discussed the structure of business in Hungary and in Slovakia and the need for nuclear energy in order to achieve energy self-sufficiency. "Without having nuclear power stations, we will hardly be able to guarantee a sufficient and affordable volume of electricity to the citizens of one or the other country," added Fico.
        Fico rejected proposals to strip Hungary of its voting right in the Council of the EU. He opposes the view that any EU member country should be punished for fighting for its sovereignty and national interests. He stressed that a unanimous decision would be required for such a step to be taken in the EU, however, he as the Slovak premier will never support it.