Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš in a Black Hawk helicopter. (source: Defence Ministry/SITA )
Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (the Slovak National Party) will not continue in the negotiations on the Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States, as Speaker of Parliament and chair of SNS Andrej Danko announced.
The decision was made at the coalition council meeting on April 15. Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák (Smer nominee) was also present.
"The foreign affairs minister will outline some specifics and conditions in the near future," Danko said , as quoted by the TASR newswire, "and we will then reconsider and see if they are acceptable for the Slovak Republic."
At the same time, Danko reassured Lajčák about his party's pro-European and pro-Atlantic stance.
Talks with the USA
The fact that the Foreign Affairs Ministry will take over the negotiations on the DCA has been recently confirmed by PM Peter Pellegrini (Smer) as well.
The objective of these talks is to affirm that Slovakia can conclude an agreement that will not intervene with the sovereignty of the country and will not enable the presence of the US army on the Slovak territory. Also, such an agreement should not force Slovakia into projects the country does not want to carry out on its territory, TASR reported.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry, President Andrej Kiska, and some MPs have criticised the Defence Ministry for its decision to withdraw from the talks on the DCA with the USA back in March.
