Slovak parliament confirms government promising to halt Ukraine military aid
Reuters November 21, 2023
Slovakia's newly appointed Prime Minister Robert Fico attends the new cabinet's inauguration, at the Presidential Palace in Bratislava, Slovakia, October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Nov 21 (Reuters) - Slovakia's parliament confirmed Prime Minister Robert Fico's government on Tuesday, backing a policy agenda that promises to halt state military aid to Ukraine, slowly reduce budget deficits and impose a new bank tax.
Fico won an election in September on a campaign that took aim at critical media, Western partners and liberal policies, and was appointed prime minister for the fourth time by President Zuzana Caputova on Oct. 25.
Fico's governing coalition combines his leftist, socially conservative SMER-SSD party with a smaller leftist party and a small nationalist party.
The coalition adopted its policy programme last week, and parliament supported it in a vote of confidence on Tuesday.
The programme promises a special tax on banking profits and measures to cut interest rates on mortgages. Special levies will be designed for excessive profits in other unspecified sectors.
It aims for a reduction of the general government deficit amounting to 0.5% of GDP in 2024. The country is facing the euro zone's biggest deficit estimated at almost 7% of GDP this year.
The programme also incorporated Fico's campaign pledge to halt Slovakia's official military aid to Ukraine as its neighbour battles Russia's invasion and to seek a cessation of hostilities, while recognising Ukraine's international borders.
It also reiterated opposition to an end of national veto rights of European Union member states, or a move towards majority voting in more areas.
The opposition voted against the programme, citing Fico's attacks on independent media and dismissals of high police officials which had investigated members of the new ruling coalition for graft.
Reporting by Jason Hovet, editing by Jan Lopatka and Timothy Heritage
Slovak PM decries Western strategy on Ukraine, says Russia 'also needs security guarantees'
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico broadly criticized the West's approach toward the Russia-Ukraine war in a column for the Pravda newspaper published on Jan. 9.
Elected in September on a populist, Ukraine-skeptic platform, Fico halted arms supplies from Slovakia's military stocks and repeatedly criticized both defense assistance for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
The Slovak head of government is also considered to be close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is, in turn, broadly seen as the most Kremlin-proximate leader in the EU.
In his column, Fico claimed that the Western strategy has "failed," saying it did not succeed in collapsing the Russian economy and Moscow continues to control parts of Ukrainian territory.
While acknowledging that Russia broke international law by launching its full-scale invasion in 2022, Fico rejected what he called a "black-and-white perspective" on the war.
"The war has its roots in 2014 and Ukraine's political situation in relation to its citizens of Russian nationality," Fico wrote.
The Kremlin used false accusations of discrimination against the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine to occupy Crimea and initiate the war in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2014.
The Slovak prime minister again criticized Western military assistance for Kyiv, claiming that "Ukraine is incapable of a meaningful counteroffensive, as it became fully dependent on financial assistance from the West."
Fico called for the stabilization of relations between the EU and Russia and added that Moscow "also needs its security guarantees."
While indirectly attacking the discussed $55 billion in EU funding for Ukraine in the article, European officials indicated that Fico did not oppose the assistance during a December summit.
Several experts pointed out that despite fiery rhetorics, Fico is unlikely to go in direct opposition to the Western consensus in practical steps. The EU aid remains stalled due to sole opposition from Hungary.
Fico also wrote he does not oppose Ukraine's membership in the EU if Kyiv meets all criteria for the accession.
In another recent jab at Western unity, Bratislava did not join the nearly 50 countries in denouncing the reported deployment of North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine.
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said he is ready to condemn military deals between Russia and North Korea after receiving relevant evidence.
NATO Country Leader Says the West Has 'Repeatedly' Misjudged War in Ukraine
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said that Western leaders have "repeatedly erred in assessing" the war between Russia and Ukraine, writing in a recent opinion piece that Kyiv is incapable of launching any meaningful counteroffensive despite receiving billions of dollars in military aid.
Fico, a member of the left-wing Smer party in Slovakia, criticized other NATO countries in an op-ed published by Slovak newspaper Pravda.sk on Tuesday, writing that the West's "failed strategy" against Russia's aggression is "beginning to cause wrinkles on my forehead." He also wrote about rejecting the "black-and-white vision" of the war that is "desired in Washington or Brussels," and blamed Moscow's invasion on the United States' influence on Kyiv's government, starting in 2014.
"Russia responded to the security situation and Ukraine's pressure to join NATO by violating international law, using military force without an international mandate," Fico wrote. "Big countries often do that, let's see what the US accomplished in Iraq."
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is pictured in Brussels, Belgium, on December 13, 2023. Fico wrote in a recent op-ed that the West's "failed strategy" in the Russia-Ukraine war is "beginning to cause wrinkles on my forehead."KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
"And the West, instead of immediately making every effort to achieve a quick ceasefire, at the beginning of 2022 without even losing a tenth to Ukraine, made a huge mistake," he added. "[The West] incorrectly evaluated the use of Russian military force as an opportunity to bring Russia to its knees."
Before being named Slovakia's prime minister for a fourth time in October, Fico campaigned on a promise to end his country's military support for Ukraine, and has repeatedly criticized the West's extensive sanctions on Russia. Despite Bratislava's unwavering support for Kyiv since the start of the war, Slovakia's government rejected a $43 million aid package to Ukraine in November under Fico's leadership, potentially signaling a shift in the country.
In his op-ed, Fico wrote that he was not "happy" that his country has been made a "mortal enemy" of Russia, and said that despite the massive sanctions, Russia's military and economy have continued to survive.
"The facts are inexorable," Fico wrote. "Russia completely controls the occupied territories militarily, and attempts to convince the international community with demagoguery about the demoralization of the Russian soldiers and the huge human losses are increasingly showing themselves as empty demagogic wishful thinking."
The Slovak leader also predicted that continued Western military aid to Ukraine will be "to no avail," adding that the impacts will leave the EU "perhaps 50 billion euros ... lighter" and that Ukraine's cemeteries "will be fuller by thousands of dead soldiers."
"Unfortunately, common sense will not win, although we are all ordered to immediately declare a truce and sit down at the negotiating table," Fico continued. "It is evident that the futile waste of human resources and money and the passage of time will not worsen Russia's negotiating position, on the contrary, it will strengthen it, because in a few years the international community will also begin to organize a retreat when looking at the reality."
Newsweek reached out to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department via email for comment on Wednesday.
Slovak Prime Minister: Russia needs security guarantees, and Ukraine is incapable of new counter-offensive
Robert Fico, Slovakia's Prime Minister, has criticised the West's strategy for Russia's war against Ukraine, saying that the aggressor country itself needs security guarantees and that Ukraine is incapable of a full-fledged counter-offensive.
Source: Fico, in a column for the Slovak newspaper Pravda, European Pravda writes
Quote: "Russia has responded to the security situation and Ukraine's pressure [on its way] to join NATO by violating international law by using military force without an international mandate. Big countries often do this."
Details: Fico noted that since the beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine, he has rejected a black-and-white vision and repeated Russian propaganda clichés about the "oppression of Russian speakers" that allegedly led to the battles in 2014 and that the United States had total influence over Kyiv.
In his opinion, the West misjudged the use of Russian military force as an opportunity to bring Russia to its knees.
"The West will take advantage of Russia's violation of international law, supply Ukraine with a lot of weapons, billions of dollars, burden Russia with massive sanctions, attack Russia's main mineral resources, and wait until the last minute, that a Ukrainian soldier will bring him the head of a Russian bear on a plate in the form of a militarily exhausted, economically ruined, internationally isolated and domestically politically undermined Russia," the Slovak prime minister writes, adding that he does not share this strategy of the West.
He says he is not one of those Slovak politicians who are happy that the Russian Federation is being turned into a mortal enemy in Slovakia, and he does not like the fact that Slovakia is being called an enemy country in Russia for this reason.
"It is literally shocking to see how the West has repeatedly made mistakes in assessing the situation in Russia. The facts are inexorable... Ukraine is not capable of a full-fledged military counter-offensive; it has become completely dependent on Western financial aid with unpredictable consequences for Ukrainians in the coming years," Fico says.
However, he predicts that weapons and money will continue to flow into Ukraine for some time to come – "but to no avail".
"It is obvious that the waste of human resources and money and the passage of time will not worsen Russia's negotiating position, but rather strengthen it, because in a few years, the international community will also start to organise a retreat, looking at reality," Fico said.
As he said, "it is absolutely clear to everyone" that the crisis in Ukraine has no military solution.
"If there is one thing I wish for, it is for the Slavs to stop fighting each other for geopolitical reasons, both from the American and Russian sides," Fico wrote.
The Slovakian prime minister believes that Ukraine has the right to follow its own sovereign path, not the one dictated by the EU: "If it sees itself in the EU, let it have this chance if it fulfils the conditions. We will be happy to help".
At the same time, he said, Russia also needs security guarantees.
"And I continue to believe that we have to go back to the recent European rhetoric that the EU and Russia are somehow connected vessels and that they need each other. As the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, I will not spread hostility towards any country in the world, and I also wish for a gradual standardisation of relations between EU member states and Russia," Fico said.
Background:
After his appointment as prime minister, Fico has confirmed that he would not support military aid to Ukraine, as he said during the election campaign. He also opposes EU sanctions against Russia and wants to block Ukraine's accession to NATO.
After a meeting with the Russian ambassador, Fico said that Slovakia should prepare for the period after the end of the war in Ukraine and for the normalisation of Slovak-Russian relations.
Stock photo: Getty Images
