Bratislava – The European Union should refrain from interfering in common defense matters, which should be under the command of NATO, as two separate commands would not ensure effective defense. This was stated by Minister of Defense Robert Kaliňák (Smer-SD) in a year-end interview with TASR.
The Defense Minister views the potential establishment of a joint European army as a major step toward federalization.
“We are either in NATO, in which case we do not need it, or we are in Europe,” emphasized Robert Kaliňák.
Furthermore, he reiterated that Ukraine will never be a member of NATO and may struggle to join the European Union as well. He believes that the coalition of states supporting Ukraine has produced no tangible results.
“Did it send any soldiers? No, of course not,” Kaliňák asserted. He added that Ukraine had the opportunity to conclude the war in 2022.
In response to the defense minister’s comments, opposition MP Juraj Krúpa (SaS) noted that automatically dismissing a common European defense structure is “strange.” Krúpa reminded that several members of the current Slovak ruling coalition once favored a European army over NATO.
“A few years ago, they claimed a European army was necessary and NATO was not, including members from Smer, SNS, and Hlas. Now they are saying they don’t want such a thing, which suggests an influence from Russia,” Krúpa stated. He also mentioned that a European army is a fantasy, as no one is currently building it or creating parallel structures due to the existence of NATO. (2 January)
“We are either in NATO, in which case we do not need a common European defense, or we are in Europe.” Robert Kaliňák.
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