The foreign policy of the Slovak Social Democracy Party, which won in last week’s parliamentary elections, represents a 180-degree turn from the position of the current government, Joyce Chediac reports.
Slovakia’s former Prime Minister Robert Fico in 2016; a vocal opponent of Slovakia’s support to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia. (Andrej Klizan, Wikimedia Commons)
By Joyce Chediac
Peoples Dispatch
The E.U. and NATO consensus on arming Ukraine and sanctioning Russia is beginning to crack.
Most recently, on Sept. 30, the Slovak Social Democracy (SMER-SD) party won the parliamentary election in Slovakia on a platform critical of the EU and NATO. They called for stopping all arms shipments to Ukraine and place blame for the war on the West and Kiev.
SMER-SD party leader and former Prime Minister Robert Fico, speaking at a rally last week, said that if his party wins it “will not send a single round [of ammunition] to Ukraine.” He also criticized the EU’s sanctions against Russia as ineffective and harmful.
This vote reflects the popular view in Slovakia. A Globsec survey in March found that 51 percent of Slovaks believed either the West or Ukraine to be “primarily responsible” for the war.
[Related: Ukraine War Is Critical in Slovakia’s Elections]
However, SMER-SD’s win was with 23.3 percent of the vote, not a majority. To implement these policies, the party will have to form a coalition government with other parties.
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If implemented, this foreign policy would be a 180-degree turn from the position of the current government. Slovakia is currently one Europe’s biggest donors to Ukraine as a share of its gross domestic product. Both a NATO and EU member, the nation has supplied Ukraine with armored personnel carriers, howitzers and its entire fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets.
[Watch: Glenn Greenwald exposes how E.U. reacted to Slovak election by blaming “Russian disinformation.”]
Bordering Ukraine, Slovakia has opened its borders to refugees escaping the war. It is also one of the poorest countries in Europe, where there is a pressing need for money for services at home, not war.
The results in Slovakia and the sentiments of the people seem to be the trend in central Europe as opposed to the exception. Hungary and Poland and Serbia are also challenging the EU consensus on supporting Ukraine and sanctioning Russia, with demands being raised to use the money for domestic priorities.
Joyce Chediac is an author at Peoples Dispatch.
This article is from Peoples Dispatch.
Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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THE CRACK IN THE WALL OF NATO JUST REARED THE UGLY HEAD.
And Ukraine would continue under the yoke of barrages of ceaseless rains of missiles with arsenals of annihilation from the Putin Russia. See:
nato-rambles-rant-away-whilst-kiev-takes-unceasing-bashings/
The world in a messy condition at the moment, who will rescue it from FECKLESS bad leaders who could not even lead their individual homes aright?
WHAT A MESS IN THE WORLD IN WANT OF QUALITY LEADERSHIP!
The Party of European Socialists (PES) has threatened to kick Fico out because of his stance against the war:
“Before the election, Stefan Lövfen, the president of the PES, threatened Fico with expulsion during an interview with Swedish media. ”
hxxps://www.politico.eu/article/eu-socialists-urged-to-kick-out-slovakias-pro-russian-election-winner-robert-fico/
I love that. Russian disinformation which, of course, is very different from US/UK/EU/NATO disinformation. Actually, the US threatened Slovakia with hell fire and damnation if they didn’t vote the “right way”. I don’t remember Russia saying anything like that.
I don’t think people in the West can understand Russia because Russia does not want to kill everyone on Earth as the West apparently does. And then to hear people who think they are rejecting government propaganda do their best Joe McCarthy impressions! I have discovered this to be the case with gender-critical people, antiwar people, civil rights activists, etc. They somehow think they are rejecting government propaganda and then use the words communism and socialism as insults.