Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will support ‘brutal financial aid’ to Ukraine – despite his pro-Russian rhetoric – if he is given guarantees the money will not be misappropriated and some will be used to renew border infrastructure and support Slovak companies involved in the reconstruction.
Fico is also ready to send €400 million to the EU in case the raised budget will be used to raise competitiveness and fight illegal migration, and no cohesion money will be cut.
“Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and we make its brutal financial support conditional on guarantees that European money (including Slovak money) will not be misappropriated,” Fico said of the €50 billion budget injection to Ukraine.
The Council’s conclusions also included mentions of the EU providing military aid, notably through the European Peace Facility.
The real test of Fico’s approach will be whether he will veto the facility’s top-up of up to €20 billion, which, unlike the proposed budget increase, is meant to fund weapons, ammunition and other military aid and needs to pass unanimously.
The dichotomy between Fico’s words and Council conclusions first became apparent during a hearing with the Slovak parliament’s EU affairs committee on Thursday morning. Michal Šimečka, leader of the opposition’s Progressive Slovakia, asked Fico how his anti-military aid stance works with the draft wording of “all-round” aid for Ukraine.
“We interpret all-round aid as humanitarian and civilian only,” Fico said, but eventually chose not to protest even the explicit mention of military aid in the text of the conclusions.
During a Thursday meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Fico said the Commission chief said she respected “the sovereign right of member states to either support Ukraine militarily or not”.
But whether this will extend to a veto over the EU’s bloc-wide military aid through the European Peace Facility remains to be seen.
(Barbara Zmušková | Euractiv.sk)
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