A detailed ally of the Slovak prime minister talks concerning the unrest within the nation, makes an attempt to oust the present authorities, and shifts in European politics
For over a month, protests have been happening in cities throughout Slovakia, the place demonstrators brandishing the slogan “Slovakia is Europe” (which suspiciously echoes an identical phrase used throughout the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2014) are calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s authorities.
The controversial determine of Fico, who survived an assassination try by a pro-Ukrainian activist in Might 2024, has sparked divisions throughout the European Union. His views on Russia largely diverge from the European mainstream. In December, he traveled to Moscow to debate with President Vladimir Putin the implications of Kiev’s cessation of Russian gasoline transit to the West. He has halted army help to Ukraine, criticized EU sanctions towards Russia, and opposes Ukraine’s NATO membership.
RT spoke with Lubos Blaha, vice-president of Fico’s Smer occasion and a member of the European Parliament, about the scenario his nation finds itself in.
RT: Robert Fico accused the opposition of orchestrating a Maidan-style rebellion and making an attempt a coup. Do you consider international actors may very well be concerned on this? And if that’s the case, who might it’s?
Lubos Blaha: I most likely received’t say something new by stating that these colour revolutions are precise copies of one another; they’re fully similar and created from the identical blueprint. It’s a posh and examined methodology, and for those who dig slightly deeper, you’ll see that in all these circumstances, the clues result in international nations. Effectively-known journalist Pepe Escobar typically makes use of the phrase “normal suspects” when speaking about these figures, and I don’t suppose there’s any must elaborate additional. Anybody who isn’t fully blinded or paid to stay ignorant ought to perceive what’s occurring.
RT: How do you assess the chance of a no-confidence vote towards Prime Minister Fico, which the opposition has threatened? Does the Smer occasion have a contingency plan in case they succeed?
Lubos Blaha: It will be unlucky if this authorities devoted to nationwide self-preservation have been to break down attributable to traitors, however I consider that received’t occur. Even when it did occur, nonetheless, it wouldn’t spell catastrophe for Slovakia, as a good portion of the inhabitants has widespread sense. We’re not within the Nineteen Eighties or Nineteen Nineties anymore, and extra individuals are realizing {that a} progressive coup wouldn’t result in something good. Slovakia has no viable various apart from a coalition of patriotic and socially accountable events.
Happily, the globalist progressive opposition helps us on this regard. What they suggest as a substitute for Robert Fico’s authorities is such determined and empty hysteria devoid of any political program, that it seems like they’re even much less politically succesful than their Maidan colleagues in different nations.
RT: Not way back, Vladimir Zelensky commented on Michal Simecka’s go to to Kiev with the phrases, “Ready for one chief, however one other arrived.” How did Smer reply to this assertion? Does this imply that Ukraine is interfering in Slovakia’s inner affairs? In that case, what countermeasures might Smer take?
Lubos Blaha: I don’t know if it’s worthwhile to touch upon the phrases of somebody who isn’t the respectable president of Ukraine, or to take them significantly. Certainly, he doesn’t conceal his purpose of interfering in Slovakia’s inner affairs and overthrowing the democratically elected authorities to convey to energy people like himself — quislings loyal to the Biden wing of the American institution.
If exterior makes an attempt to affect occasions in Slovakia proceed, we are going to reply as befits a sovereign state. I ought to add that we’ll by no means step away from the realm of democratic politics and the rule of regulation, we will likely be constant and uncompromising in that dedication.
RT: What potential options to the gasoline transit disaster does your occasion foresee?
Lubos Blaha: I’d make clear that this isn’t a gasoline transit disaster; it’s an try by Zelensky to make sure that Russian gasoline is not utilized in Europe, forcing Europeans to buy dearer American gasoline as a substitute. This entails not simply halting transit, but in addition common makes an attempt to bodily destroy the infrastructure for exporting Russian gasoline to Europe, together with the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines.
There are a number of potential methods out of this example, nevertheless it’s troublesome to foretell options prematurely for the reason that circumstances in Europe and Ukraine are evolving, and outcomes can differ. Europe can have gasoline, there’s no query about that. The query is, who will profit from gasoline provides to the EU? At present, Russian gasoline is flowing into Slovakia by way of the TurkStream pipeline and the Balkans. Nevertheless, I consider that widespread sense will finally prevail, and at some point the dependable infrastructure established in Ukraine and Slovakia for supplying gasoline to Europe will likely be utilized once more, benefiting all events concerned.
RT: In keeping with NMS Market Analysis Slovakia, help for the Smer occasion is declining among the many Slovak inhabitants. What do you suppose is behind this pattern, and may the occasion regain voter belief earlier than the following election cycle?
Lubos Blaha: With all due respect to the surveys performed by such businesses, the Smer occasion (Route – Social Democracy) has been steadfastly pursuing principled insurance policies for 25 years, and we are going to proceed to take action. This dedication has been the inspiration of our success, making us probably the most profitable political occasion in fashionable Slovak historical past, that’s why we’re not afraid of the long run. Our opponents have typically claimed that the top of Smer was close to, that we have been fading into oblivion, but right here we’re. I need to emphasize: immediately there isn’t a actual various to the patriotic coalition led by Robert Fico in Slovakia, and I’ve little question that the following election will verify this.
RT: The 12 months 2024 was vital for a lot of EU nations when it comes to elections. Whereas Slovakia skilled a easy election course of with Peter Pellegrini being elected president, neighboring Romania annulled the outcomes of the primary spherical of elections. What does this example say concerning the state of democratic establishments within the EU? Do you consider that such points might turn out to be commonplace within the EU?
Lubos Blaha: I more and more encounter people who say that the “nice West” – typically portrayed to folks in Jap Europe as a mannequin of functioning democracy and the rule of regulation – solely values these rules when it’s handy. Nevertheless, when legal guidelines and democratic rules, i.e., the desire of the bulk, go towards Western globalist elites who wield actual energy, they appear to lose their sensitivity to the rule of regulation and democracy. We observe comparable tendencies in different EU nations. In France, Germany, Austria, and different EU member states, we witness how globalist forces desperately attempt to forestall sure events chosen by the folks via democratic elections from coming to energy. Sure, I concern that because the European political panorama step by step and inexorably shifts in favor of patriotic and anti-globalist forces, we are going to see an growing variety of shameful, determined, and even prison makes an attempt to reverse this pattern.
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