Premier: Ample Arguments for Not Supporting Pandemic Agreement

       Bratislava, 20 May (TASR) - There were sufficient factual arguments for Slovakia's failure to support the pandemic agreement, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) told a press conference on Tuesday, adding that in his view, it contains elements that undermine the sovereignty of member states, inappropriately interfere in the sphere of human rights and has addenda about which nothing is known.
        The premier declared that the Slovak delegation acted exactly according to the instructions of the Slovak government.
        "A decision was made at a cabinet session that the delegation would have a mandate to call for a vote on the pandemic agreement and not support the pandemic agreement in that vote," said the prime minister. In practice, he said, not supporting the agreement meant voting against it or abstaining from the vote. He claims that this was not a "short-cut decision" by the cabinet, but was made after serious consideration, and the Justice Ministry also gave its opinion.
        "The delegation did exactly what it was supposed to do according to the instructions of the Slovak government," said Fico, pointing out that Slovakia wasn't the only country that abstained in the vote. He named, for example, Israel, Russia, Italy and Poland. "There are countries that have a problem with the pandemic agreement, 40 countries did not participate in the vote," he stated.
        The WHO formally adopted an international agreement on the prevention and control of pandemics at its annual meeting in Geneva on Tuesday. The approval of the agreement at Tuesday's meeting of the World Health Assembly was preceded on Monday (19 May) evening by a vote in the assembly's committee A on a resolution recommending that the assembly should adopt the pandemic agreement. The resolution was adopted with the votes of 124 states. No country voted against, but 11 abstained, including, for example, Iran, Israel, Russia, Italy, Slovakia and Poland.