Presidential candidate Ivan Korčok (l) and Demokrati leader Jaroslav Naď hold a conversation on March 23, 2024. (source: TASR)
Speaker of Parliament and presidential candidate Peter Pellegrini, who promises in his campaign that he will be a pro-Slovak president and will protect the country’s sovereignty, has been accused of transferring a military airport area located in central Slovakia to the United States.
The contract for the procurement of 14 F-16 fighter jets, approved by Pellegrini's government and signed by then-defence minister Peter Gajdoš (SNS) in late 2018, is said to contain a provision that transfers a portion of Sliač airport to the USA.
Former defence minister Jaroslav Naď (Demokrati) and analyst Monika Podhorány Masariková assert that according to the contract, only Americans have exclusive access to that part of the airport. Slovak citizens can enter it if they obtain prior approval of the US government, they say.
Naď, the leader of the non-parliamentary Demokrati party, claims that this is another case of a pharisaic approach by the presidential candidate.
“Peter Pellegrini frequently mentions sovereignty. He called us traitors and, along with Fico, claimed that we [previous OĽaNO-led governments] were going to hand over Sliač airport to the Americans. It was his government that agreed to hand over sovereignty of part of the Sliač military airport to the US government,” said the ex-defence minister.
When speaking of traitors, the ex-minister refers to the signing of the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the USA two years ago. Hlas, headed by Pellegrini, and Smer, criticised the then Heger government for signing the agreement at that time.
From criticising DCA to calling Korčok a warmonger
In 2022, Slovakia even became dotted with billboards portraying the faces and names of MPs who supported the agreement, including President Zuzana Čaputová. Hlas criticised this Smer-launched initiative. The opposition, moreover, wanted to hold a referendum on the agreement, arguing that it would violate Slovakia’s sovereignty.
Instead, Sliač, a spa town, held a local referendum on a US military base, though there was no plan to build such a base in the town. The referendum was invalid, and later declared unlawful.
After the 2023 parliamentary elections, Smer planned to cancel the defence agreement. Recently, the party admitted that the contract could not be cancelled in the next 10 years. Still, the government would like to amend the agreement.
In terms of the war in Ukraine, Pellegrini continues to spread a false narrative that his rival, former diplomat Ivan Korčok, would send Slovak soldiers to Ukraine. The president, unlike the government and the parliament, doesn’t possess such powers.
PM Robert Fico (Smer) calls Korčok a “warmonger” working for the West.
