According to Fico, he spoke on the phone with the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and asked him why he agreed to participate in an emergency meeting in Paris involving seven EU countries and the United Kingdom, where the topic of discussion is likely to be "the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine as a potential security guarantee after the war ends and the country's refusal to join NATO."
"Robert Fico views the participation of senior EU officials (including the President of the European Commission) without any mandate in the Paris meeting as an event that does not foster trust within the European Union. The EU has no authority to make decisions regarding the involvement of foreign troops on the territory of another state. This can only be done based on decisions made by competent UN bodies or through bilateral agreements between Ukraine and individual countries wishing to send their troops to its territory," he emphasized.
Fico added that he "respects" the meeting of countries willing to send their troops to Ukraine, but "the EU is in no way involved in this matter and should not take any action."
At the same time, he reiterated his stance on the potential issues that will be discussed during the summit.
"First of all, I will never agree to Ukraine's membership in NATO. This position is long-standing and consistent. Secondly, Slovakia will not send any armed forces to Ukraine," he stated.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia added that he opposes the war in Ukraine, supports Ukraine's accession to the EU, and mentioned that the meeting in Paris should have been confidential, but was revealed by "a representative of Poland."
"It is clear that the West's strategy of exploiting the war in Ukraine to weaken Russia has failed and has led to hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides of the conflict. Robert Fico has also publicly and repeatedly stated that Ukraine will lose part of its territory, it will not join NATO, and its territory will be controlled by foreign armies, which will hinder its accession to the EU, a move that Slovakia supports unconditionally," he concluded.