Brussels attempts at imposing a “mandatory political opinion” on member states signals the end of the European project, Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico said in his speech at CPAC Hungary on Thursday.
The imposition of a mandatory political opinion, the abolition of the veto, the punishment of the sovereign and the brave, the new Iron Curtain, the preference for war over peace. This is the end of the common European project. This is a departure from democracy. This is the precursor of a huge military conflict.”
Fico said both he and Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán had been threatened by “a particularly nervous new German chancellor”—Friedrich Merz—who warned them to align with Brussels’ stance on military aid to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia or “You will be punished.”
“No one in a peaceful and democratic project should have the right to treat other EU member states in this way, regardless of their size and economic strength, Fico said. “I do not intend to leave the idea of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy, oriented towards all four cardinal points of the world, and the consistent protection of Slovak interests in the name of the perverse philosophy of a single, mandatory political opinion.”
Fico’s appearance at CPAC Hungary, after also appearing at CPAC D.C. in February, shows the growing rapprochement between right and left nationalist-populists over their common interest in fighting centralization and globalism.
“Yes, I am a social democrat,” Fico said, “but not of the Brussels kind. My task is to protect the interests of my fellow citizens and the national interests of Slovakia.”
“Let our diversity, sovereignty, and national identity be our strength and not weakness,” Fico ended his speech.
