European Parliament supports financial restrictions for Slovakia over actions of PM Fico's government

The European Parliament has called on the European Commission to freeze part of EU budget payments to Slovakia over actions by Prime Minister Robert Fico's government, which are seen as a threat to the rule of law and the EU's financial interests.

Source: Aktuality, as reported by European Pravda

Details: MEPs backed the resolution with 418 votes in favour, formally urging the European Commission to apply the so-called conditionality mechanism for the first time and suspend payments to Slovakia from the EU budget due to policies of Robert Fico's government, which undermine the rule of law and endanger EU financial interests.

The report was prepared by German MEP Daniel Freund of the Greens group. Ahead of the vote, he said there was a broad consensus among the main political groups in the European Parliament – the EPP, Socialists, Renew Europe and the Greens.

As part of the preparation process, MEP monitoring missions visited Bratislava and met with Fico himself.

"I did not get the impression that he was really trying to convince us during the meeting. Most of the time, he explained how much worse his predecessors were. But we did not come to study history, but to look at the current situation in the country," Freund said.

Members of Slovakia's opposition Progressive Slovakia party abstained from the vote, saying that while they fully understand the importance of the rule of law, they could not support a decision that would have painful consequences for their own country.

The European Parliament vote does not itself trigger the suspension of funds – such a decision must be taken by the European Commission and EU member states, and the procedure may take several months.

Background:

• In March, the EU did not approve a loan for Hungary's rearmament due to a veto blocking financial assistance for Ukraine.
• After the electoral victory of the opposition Tisza party, Brussels began talks with Peter Magyar's team on how to proceed with unfreezing EU funds for Hungary, which had been suspended over corruption and rule-of-law concerns.

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