Former Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) claims that the defense agreement with the USA transfers Slovak airports and airspace to foreign armed forces, allows the US armed forces to enter Slovakia and brings the USA closer to the Russian border.
Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee) denies this. He announced that Fico was introducing. He declared that on the basis of this agreement, not a single soldier of a foreign state would enter the territory of the Slovak Republic without a decision by the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic. Fico and Korčok discussed the contract in the RTVS Sunday program Five Minutes Twelve.
“The agreement approved by the government is not a political declaration,” Fico said, adding that it guaranteed complete US control over Slovak airspace. He called it inconvenient and useless. He claims that it lacks reciprocity, interferes with the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic and is part of the geopolitical struggle. He reiterated that the US Armed Forces would have our airports at their disposal and would be able to use them for their own purposes. According to Fico, the government fully respected the proposal from the USA during the agreement. He sees the only way in that the treaty will be rejected by the National Council of the Slovak Republic and it will be renegotiated.
“In everything you said, you are misleading,” Korčok responded. He declared that on the basis of this agreement “no foot will enter the territory of the Slovak Republic” and that the agreement does not limit the power of the National Council of the Slovak Republic to decide on the presence of foreign troops in Slovakia. He emphasized that the treaty had undergone a proper process in accordance with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. He noted that for a long time a large part of the Slovak political scene has cultivated a negative attitude towards the USA and that the opposition chooses from the treaty only what suits it. “You scare the Slovaks. You have no choice but to get the United States as an aggressor,” he said.
In connection with the views in the coalition, Korčok said that the partners may also have questions and will discuss this. He appreciated that all members of the government voted for her. If the President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová turns to the Constitutional Court with her treaty, they will have to deal with it. He noted that the Ministry of Justice and the Government’s Legislative Council also commented on the treaty and did not find a conflict with the constitution.