Mečiar accuses U.S. of using double standard

Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar told Slovak Radio on July 26 that the U.S. Congress is "wrong" to leave his country off the list of financial assistance recipients for NATO integration. "If Hungary, with its government's nationalistic policies [and] interference in the internal affairs [of neighboring countries]... becomes a NATO member, then a strategy of a double standard is more than obvious," Mečiar said. He commented that Slovakia's omission from the list is partly a reaction to internal political developments and geopolitical relations, stressing that "many untruths are said about us abroad." Nonetheless, he insisted that Slovakia's interest in NATO membership has not declined. Peter Weiss, deputy chairman of the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), accused the ruling coalition of failing to take the U.S. Congress's decision seriously.