Fico Wants to Initiate House Session on Funding Ukraine's Military Expenditures

      Visnove, 29 October (TASR) - I won't sign any guarantee for financing Ukraine's military spending in 2026-2027, and Slovakia won't participate "even with one cent" in financing Ukraine's military spending, said Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following the government meeting in the village of Visnove in Zilina region on Wednesday, adding that he also wants to initiate an extraordinary parliamentary session on this issue.
        In addition, the premier reacted to information about a possible reduction in the presence of US troops on NATO's eastern flank that could affect Slovakia. Fico said that he isn't surprised by the information and doesn't feel threatened. "It's confirmation for me how rational US President Donald Trump is. He's right to a certain extent. Europe has been living luxuriously, relying on the presence of American troops. We had the feeling that everything was working. The US president said to himself that he needed resources elsewhere," he stated, adding that Trump is behaving pragmatically.
        Fico also pointed out that Slovakia has a joint programme on defence cooperation within the EU. This means that there is a need to be more efficient when it comes to how defence resources are spent. "If we were in solidarity with each other, buying together, actually promoting products well for the whole of the EU in cooperation with NATO, we'd be able to save an awful lot of money," he said.
        Romanian Defence Minister Ionut Mosteanu hinted at a press conference on Wednesday that the reduction in the US troop presence on NATO's eastern flank could also affect Slovakia. "It's important to stress that this is not a withdrawal of US forces, but rather a suspension of the rotation of a brigade that had troops in several NATO countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary," said Mosteanu.