Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government was formed just in time for him to attend the European Council summit, which will focus on the unfolding situation in the Middle East, on which he refuses to ‘tolerate plans to raze Gaza to the ground’, the war in Ukraine and migration.
The topics on the agenda will give Fico optimum opportunity to show his stance, which in most cases is contrary to that of the bloc.
“The newly appointed government will be constructive, will not shy away from any challenges and will pursue a sovereign foreign policy,” Fico said when President Zuzana Čaputová was appointing his cabinet.
On Ukraine, Fico has promised to stop sending arms, re-evaluate the effectiveness of EU’s sanctions and fight against migration reform. In a video shared to his social media last week, Fico condemned the attack of Hamas on Israel, but added that we cannot “tolerate thousands of dead Palestinian civilians, as collateral damage”.
While recognising “the right for the Israeli political and military structures to defend Israel’s sovereignty” and to take “necessary tough measures” to prevent similar attacks, Fico’s focus on the Palestinian casualties differs from rhetoric of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who met with Israel’s leaders on Wednesday and promised to fight for the Council to “affirm unequivocal support for Israel and its right to self-defense”.
Fico’s cabinet was formed after Čaputová accepted an alternate nominee for the minister of environment. The original candidate from the Slovak National Party, Rudolf Huliak, was rejected by her due to the fact that he does not believe in climate change and has spoken about wanting to cut off activists’ heads.
The new Slovak envi-chief will be Tomáš Taraba, a former member of the far-right ĽSNS party, whose leader was convicted for spreading Nazi symbolism. In the previous legislative term, Taraba has attempted to reduce penalties for misusing EU funds.
Activists claim that Taraba’s approach to environmental policy will run counter to EU legislation and will bring Slovakia more infringement proceedings and fines. The nationalists have refused entry to their press conference on Taraba’s nomination to major news media outlets, including Denník N, SME and Aktuality.
(Barbara Zmušková | Euractiv.sk)
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Fiala to push EU Council to support Israel’s right to self-defence, condemn Hamas
Source: euractiv.com
