Bratislava – Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced on Sunday that the Slovak government wants to develop a vision for the development of Slovakia by 2040 and warned that he will propose a special section on peace in the upcoming conclusions of the EU Council on foreign policy (FAC). EU foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg on June 23, with Slovakia represented at this meeting by Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár, TASR reports.
Fico explained during the Sunday press conference that he wants to ask experts from the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) and universities to develop a vision for the development of Slovakia by 2040. He also wants to involve employers and experienced diplomats. According to him, such a vision would help the country. He also expects that any upcoming governments would respect it.
He believes that the document will also address developments in foreign policy. According to him, it should also include an assessment of how well the authors hit the vision that he had developed in 2008 for the period until 2030. He emphasized that the document should not be prepared by bureaucrats, but by “educated capacities in SAV, at universities, among employers”.
“If we say that there should be an interest in achieving that tourism will create such and such a share of GDP, then that should apply, and the next government, whether it is right, left, liberal, or any other, should respect this,” said the Prime Minister.
Fico also announced that the Slovak government will propose a special section on peace in the upcoming conclusions of the EU Council on foreign affairs.
“I would like to once again call for the EU Council to deal significantly more with peace, diplomacy, and proposals on how to end both conflicts next week,” the Prime Minister stated, referring to Russia’s war against Ukraine and the current conflict between Israel and Iran. He specified that this is a better approach than “stoking the fire,” which he believes we see today, especially in connection with the war in Ukraine. In this context, he stated that the Union is helpless.
“If the EU put all its potential into peace negotiations and diplomacy, then results could come. We are not moving anywhere,” he added. In this context, he also pointed to a manifesto by former leading representatives of the German Social Democrats (SPD), in which they called on the German government to negotiate with Russia and criticized the increase in defense spending. (June 15)
“If the EU put all its potential into peace negotiations and diplomacy, then results could come. We are not moving anywhere.” Robert Fico
