The adoption of the defence agreement with the United States represented “a failure of the country’s three highest constitutional officials,” Peter Pellegrini, then leader of the Hlas party and now president, said in February 2022.
“I guarantee you that even the defence minister himself hasn’t read the treaty, and the coalition MPs have no idea what kind of treacherous deal they approved – because this agreement is indeed treacherous,” declared Robert Fico, then opposition MP and chairman of Smer.
At the time, the Slovak National Party also publicly branded MPs who voted in favour of the defence deal with the United States – known as the DCA (Defence Cooperation Agreement) – as “traitors”.
The treaty, to which an “interpretative clause” was later added following public protests, remains in force.
Earlier this October, when Slovakia’s Defence Ministry announced on Facebook that Deputy Defence Minister Igor Melicher had visited Washington, it also referred to the DCA.
“The main item on the agenda was a meeting of the High-Level Defence Group at the Pentagon – a strategic format of cooperation established under the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between Slovakia and the United States,” the ministry wrote.
Experts say that nothing substantial has changed regarding the agreement. It is being quietly implemented, but apparently without any major new developments.
