President Kiska (R) and Prime Minister Robert Fico (source: SITA)
In an interview with Trend weekly, President Andrej Kiska stated that he was ashamed of the government due to PM Robert Fico’s statements on Muslims and the Ukraine made among foreign representatives.
Kiska said that the president of a Muslim country which is a member of the UN Security Council asked him whether Slovaks really hate Muslims. “It was a shame,” Kiska told the weekly.
He added that Fico’s sentence that Russia did more for the peace process than the Ukraine, stirred a strong wave of negative emotions.
Fico responded that he is interested in having a good relationship with President Kiska as Slovakia needs cooperation and communication between its top constitutional officials, the TASR newswire reported on November 3.
“I absolutely reject the conflict that they’re trying to drag me into,” Fico said, as quoted by TASR.
He added that Kiska’s statements will not change his mind.
“I’m against the establishment of a compact Muslim community in Slovakia as well as against quotas [for the redistribution of migrants],” said Fico, as quoted by TASR. “With respect to the case of the conflict between the Ukraine and Russia, both parties have responsibilities stemming from the Minsk agreement and I refuse to view this process from a single angle.”
Kiska criticised many things in the interview. He expressed discontent over the lack of activity concerning the scandal surrounding businessman Ladislav Bašternák’s alleged tax fraud. He also said that Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák, who has been accused of having close ties with Bašternák, should have resigned a long time ago.
The president also claimed that Fico spoilt the chances of Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Miroslav Lajcak, of becoming the next secretary-general of the United Nations.
