EUROPEAN Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič offered some statements of support for Smer’s presidential candidate, Prime Minister Robert Fico, ahead of the election run-off scheduled for March 29.
Speaking at a press conference that the Smer party convened to officially introduce Šefčovič as the leader of its candidate list for the upcoming European Parliament elections, Šefčovič took the occasion to discuss his doubts about Andrej Kiska, Fico’s opponent in the presidential race.
European politicians often have a problem with Kiska and they keep asking how to spell his name and what political family he belongs to, Šefčovič said, as reported by the TASR newswire. These European-level politicians are allegedly asking whether Kiska is conservative, liberal or a social democrat, what he thinks about the future of the eurozone, and how he would react as the head of the armed forces at the NATO summit regarding Ukraine.
Šefčovič stressed that personal credibility plays an important role in foreign policy, and praised Robert Fico for what he described as his skill in dealing with foreign policy issues.
He dismissed suggestions that Smer is trying to take hold of all the posts in the country, arguing that in France the socialists too have a president, a prime minister and a speaker of parliament.
Šefčovičs’ remarks followed shortly after Fico sharply attacked Kiska for his statements about certain foreign policy issues, particularly Kosovo. Kiska said earlier in a survey for the Sme daily that Slovakia should recognise Kosovo. He noted that the future president’s term coincides with Slovakia’s presidencies of the EU and the V4, and the president will soon have to attend tough NATO summits about Ukraine.
“I think it hazardous what the right is doing,” Fico said, as quoted by SITA, in reference to the centre-right parties’ support for Kiska.
Kiska did not respond to Fico’s accusations as of the morning of March 18. The centre-right parties stood by Kiska in their responses, however. Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) chair Pavol Frešo noted that Fico was the one who was unable to take a clear stance on the crisis in Ukraine, and “in the past did not have a problem visiting the bloody dictator Gaddafi in his tent in Libya”.
“It is a statement of a man who has repeatedly seriously harmed Slovakia, and his government is connected with many scandals,” Most-Híd MP Gábor Gál said, as quoted by Sme.
Source: SITA, Sme
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
