Though Fico has echoed Kremlin talking points on Ukraine and the EU’s response to Russia’s war, Roth Neveďalová disputed the opposition claim that the current government is turning Slovakia eastward, which she dismissed as “nonsense.”
“Neither Smer nor the government ever said we should leave the EU or NATO … we have an open foreign policy in all directions,” she said, adding that Slovakia has the right to set a sovereign foreign policy.
Since Fico’s election triumph, however, he has emerged as one of the Kremlin’s closer allies in the EU, and has vowed he will “never” agree to support Ukraine’s NATO membership.
Criticism hasn’t been limited to Fico’s Moscow outreach. He also came under fire from the Slovak press and the opposition recently for spending time in a luxury hotel in Vietnam, where a single night’s stay costs more than €5,000, at a time when Slovak citizens face health-care and cost-of-living crises.
Fico denied the media reports and said he had only used the hotel for an official meeting, which he backed up with confirmation from the hotel.
“It’s an absolute nonsense [to say] that he stayed in a hotel for €6,000. He was on vacation, and I think the prime minister has [the] right to rest,” she said.
The vote of confidence will take place next Tuesday at 9 a.m.
