Slovak PM says EU has paid heavy price for oil crisis, continuing war

BRATISLAVA, October 12. /TASS/. The European Union has paid a heavy price for the oil crisis and the ongoing wars, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

"So far, only the European Union has been paying a huge price for the oil crisis and the wars taking place around us," he said on a video posted by his party Direction-Social Democracy, known as SMER, on its Facebook page (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

The European Union is isolating itself from the rest of the world and has no say in settling military conflicts around the world and in addressing the most pressing international issues, Fico said, adding that the EU’s sanctions policy is ineffective.

The Slovak prime minister stressed that his country is against halting Russian oil and gas imports to Europe. He pledged that Slovakia will remain committed to a sovereign foreign policy and will spare no effort to persuade the European Union to revise its decision banning energy supplied from Russia. Thus, Bratislava challenged the European Commission’s ban on Russian gas imports with the European Court of Justice, he recalled.

Slovakia will take an active role in the European Union, Fico stated. "We must say something about what we intend to do regarding the pro-war policy that currently dominates within the EU," he emphasized, noting that the EU summit will take place this Thursday and Friday. The international situation, he said, is "very bad." "I fear that a military conflict could break out," the Slovak prime minister added.