President Stresses Who Makes Foreign Policy, Doesn't Take MEP Kalinak Seriously

        Bratislava, March 6 (TASR) - Slovakia's foreign policy is formed by the president and the prime minister, and others only comment on it, said President Peter Pellegrini on Thursday in connection with statements made by several coalition politicians, which, in his opinion, have unnecessarily overwhelmed the public space and stirred up uncertainty among Slovaks.
        Pellegrini added that NATO might be undergoing qualitative changes and the EU is at a crossroads on how to be more effective, but nobody wants to divert Slovakia from its membership of these two organisations.
        The president thinks that some coalition representatives, by their actions and words, are not helping Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), who is trying to convince the public that there's no reason to demonstrate because nobody wants to move Slovakia away from NATO and the EU. However, he doesn't see these statements as dramatic yet because what is important for him is how the prime minister behaves at European meetings and he as head of state at NATO summits. "We make foreign policy, others just comment on it," he said.
        Pellegrini added that he doesn't take seriously at all Smer-SD MEP Erik Kalinak statement that if the Russians reached Uzhhorod [a Ukrainian city on the border with Slovakia - ed. note], Slovakia would finally have a reliable partner. He sees him as a young and very inexperienced politician. "I don't think that this young man, who has been in politics for a very short time, has and is capable of analysing the situation in the world in a way that would enable him to speak his mind. And when he speaks it, it shouldn't be taken seriously and relevant at all," he said, adding that MEP Kalinak is trying to impress.