According to opposition member of parliament Juraj Krúpa (SaS), after two years of the current government, Slovakia is falling behind in several areas. He claims that Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) is doing everything to rule forever. Head of Slovak diplomacy Juraj Blanár (Smer-SD) rejects his criticism. According to him, the previous governments, which included the SaS, are responsible for the collapse of the country. He declared that they had to “put Slovakia on its feet”. Politicians stated this in the Slovak Radio’s discussion program Sobotné dialogy.
“We have a total collapse in the rankings of the European Union, in terms of education, in terms of healthcare, in terms of the social status of citizens, etc. So we are really sinking to the very bottom of the European Union as such. (…) We are internationally isolated, today we are not accepted at all, we simply see that the pro-Russian policy that they hide, the slogan ‘politics for all four corners of the world’, does not help us at all, on the contrary, it isolates us. We can also see it in the fact that, for example, the reaction of European socialists was to exclude Smer,” stated Krúpa.
Blanár evaluates the two years of the government cabinet as an effort to fix everything that the previous governments caused. “What you listed happened under previous governments that you supported and were a part of,” he responded. He called the talk about the international isolation of Slovakia a “confused song of the opposition”. According to him, the country is a respected partner.
He added that Smer-SD MEPs remain unaffiliated after being expelled from the Party of European Socialists. “We will monitor how things develop. I think that our MPs are doing well within the European Parliament, and I even think that we have more space to communicate our national interests within the European Parliament than in a faction that has completely disappeared,” he noted.
According to the minister, consolidation and the state budget for next year also testify to the government’s efforts. Krupa does not think that the government will succeed in reducing the public finance deficit as planned. Blanár emphasized that the government is taking a responsible approach to consolidation. According to him, she will be equally responsible in the case of a request for a vote of confidence in the parliament in connection with public finances.
“There is no set time for when we should do this, but we can assure you that our government will approach everything responsibly,” he said, adding that he would consider all options. “It clearly follows that the government should ask for confidence again. If he doesn’t do it, we will definitely turn to the Constitutional Court,” emphasized Krupa.
The minister also confirmed that the government continues to communicate with the British side in connection with information about the alleged influence of the Slovak parliamentary elections in 2023.We currently have answers to questions that are not quite satisfactory for us, but we are currently checking some things that we received as answers on the Slovak side and will inform the Slovak public and the political spectrum. In any case, I have to state that it was interference in the election campaign, where a narrow group was mobilized that clearly preferred Progressive Slovakia,” he added.
Blanár also responded to the call of the Dutch parliament to the Dutch government to sue Slovakia for its constitutional changes at the European Court of Justice. He considers it unacceptable and sees it as part of the election campaign in the Netherlands. At the same time, he stated that the head of the Slovak Information Service, Pavol Gašpar, whose position is criticized by the opposition, has the trust of Smer-SD. Krúpa thinks that Gašpar has no business in the post.
