Maria Troskova (middle) (source: TASR)
“The meeting between the Slovak prime minister and German chancellor, attended by Mária Trošková despite the objections of German diplomats, was one of the moments I felt extremely ashamed,” Slovak diplomat Ondrej Gažovič wrote in his blog post published on the Denník N daily’s website.
Gažovič, who worked as diplomat in the years 2012-2017 and spent time at the Slovak Embassy in Berlin, described the meeting that took place last year.
Though he does not consider it right to tell stories from previous jobs, especially in the current political atmosphere when PM Robert Fico is talking about the planned coup organised abroad, he felt the urge to write the blog.
Questions over Slovak delegation
One of his last jobs was to prepare the visit and negotiations between Fico and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Then-Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka was also supposed to attend the meeting.
For Germans, the talks were also to be attended by Christoph Heusgen, Merkel’s then right-hand man and advisor for foreign policy, and Uwe Corsepius, Merkel’s advisor for European policy and former secretary general of the Council of the EU. For the Czech Republic, several diplomats were to attend the meeting, including ex-European commissioner Vladimír Špidla.
However, the Slovak delegation raised several questions, Gažovič wrote. Apart from two respected diplomats the talks were to be attended by Trošková whom he described as “a not very successful model with a dubious reputation”.
“This person compensated for a lack of expertise in foreign policy with a close relationship to the prime minister,” Gažovič wrote.
According to him, it is not very nice to hear German diplomats indicating they have problem with the Slovak delegation, especially “if you understand they are right”.
“It’s the worst if you know the Government’s Office won’t back away,” Gažovič wrote.
Questions remain
A person Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer) is now calling “a secretary” was instantly turned into a foreign policy expert and attended the meeting, he added.
The same was repeated three hours later, when the delegation met with German President Frank-Walter Steimeier.
Gažovič went on to say that Trošková also attended other meetings with top representatives of various countries where sensitive topics concerning national interests were discussed. He questioned the people Trošková could have shared the information with.
