Distinguished Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America, dear Marco Rubio, allow me to welcome you once again, together with your delegation, to Bratislava at the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic.
Ladies and gentlemen, we first held a short meeting with the Minister, and then we negotiated in delegations, where we discussed in greater detail the topics that are the essence of our entire meeting today.
I will try to very briefly summarize the conclusions of our talks, whether they took place one-on-one or in the delegations.
First of all, I greatly appreciate that this visit comes shortly after our meeting in Florida, where I had the opportunity to speak with the President of the United States of America, Mr. Trump, in the presence of Mr. Rubio. Therefore, this is an excellent follow-up, it is a wonderful continuation, and shortly after we saw each other in Florida, we were able to tell each other where we had gotten in the topics we had discussed together.
I consider the most essential thing from today's meeting, distinguished Minister, to be that we respect each other.
I emphasized that I am a representative of a government that wants to conduct a sovereign Slovak foreign policy oriented toward all four corners of the world.
I emphasized that my basic priority is not to protect the national and nation-state interests of others, but that my basic duty is to protect the national and nation-state interests of the Slovak Republic.
And I think there is a correct understanding that wherever our interests converge, we act as allies. Where we have different opinions, that forces us to negotiate, to negotiate, and to find appropriate solutions.
I think I am among the politicians who are always very open in their conversations, and I do everything so that what I say in private meetings I also say publicly. Therefore, allow me now to present a few conclusions exactly as they were formulated, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and I exchanged them.
Slovakia cares about cooperation with the United States in the field of nuclear energy. On February 13, an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and Slovakia on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy entered into force. I informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs where we stand.
We have a huge interest, under the auspices of an American partner, to create a multinational consortium that would guarantee that Slovakia could build another nuclear block with an output of 1,200 MW by 2040.
And we are pleased if we manage to sign concrete agreements with the company Westinghouse during the coming year.
I also asked our American partners, of course, for cooperation already in these stages of preparing this project, because it is a project that goes beyond the framework of Slovakia. It also affects the entire European Union. Therefore, intensive talks with our European partners will be necessary, and in this we will also need the cooperation of American partners.
Speaking of energy, I informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs about what is happening in this region regarding gas and oil. I will not go too far into details.
I can only say that Slovakia, as a country that was always at the beginning of various pipelines, whether it was oil or gas, has ended up at the end of these pipelines.
We are in an unenviable position because of the ideological and harmful decisions of the European Union. I am speaking in particular about the REPowerEU decision, which stops, for example, the flows of any gas from the east to Europe, starting in our case on November 1, 2027.
We have been looking for various alternatives together, and I truly believe that even tomorrow's meeting with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, could bring some progress regarding the crisis situation that is currently arising in the area of oil supplies to Europe and to the refineries controlled by the Hungarian MOL.
The third topic was, of course, the war in Ukraine. Slovakia has its original, unique positions here, which do not always coincide with the positions of our partners in the European Union, but that is our openness, that is our directness, and that is the implementation of a sovereign policy toward all four corners of the world.
I clearly told the Minister of Foreign Affairs how we see the war conflict. We believe that it will continue for quite a long time. We do not see a way out toward a peaceful ending in the short term, and I offered Slovakia as a country that understands the language both in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, as a country that has good intelligence services, as a country that is a neighboring country of Ukraine, for a good exchange of views on this topic.
And Minister, I want to appreciate the approach of your president, because it is the approach of a person who is very pragmatic and rational and who wants to end this war as quickly as possible. We also consider it senseless. Therefore, if Slovakia can be helpful in any peace initiatives that will lead to the ending of this war, we are fully prepared.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to inform you that starting July 1, 2026, Slovakia takes over the chairmanship of an exceptional structure of regional cooperation, and that is the V4, the Visegrád Group.
I would like to confirm the words of the Minister of Foreign Affairs that this format should be used not only for that regional cooperation, but we should also consider gradually inviting partners to topics that will be very current at a given moment. Therefore, and we talked about this briefly, if after July 1, 2026 a topic arises where it would be useful to talk in the V4 format with the United States of America, and if the partners in the V4 of course agree with that, we will be ready to organize such meetings. For Slovakia, I say that we are interested in such a V4+ United States format on fundamental issues of foreign and energy cooperation.
Of course, we also exchanged views on a number of other topics. I would like to add that we are a member state of NATO, we are partners in the North Atlantic Alliance. We understand the position of the United States that Europe must take more care of its own security.
I think it is very clear and obvious that in Europe we are talking about increasing spending on our own security. This is a natural development that has occurred, and that is why we also talked about how to proceed with budgets for the coming years. We must take into account our possibilities and capabilities. But we equally realize that Slovakia, if it wants to be part of collective security in Europe and in NATO, will have to participate also in gradually strengthening our capacities.
I would also like to ask for understanding in that we are interested in using budgets designated for military purposes to also build dual-use projects, with the huge military hospital being built near the Ukrainian border in the eastern part of the Slovak Republic as a good example. Military cooperation will continue.
You know that we procured F-16 aircraft from the United States. There is an interest in increasing this number to 18 units. So we are discussing how to get another four aircraft into the Slovak army, because it is not a very good sign of sovereignty if our airspace is protected today by fighter jets of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. We got into this unenviable situation because military equipment was donated to Ukraine in the years 2020 to 2023.
There are many other aspects of military cooperation, because we are together in NATO. This was also discussed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Róbert Kaliňák, together with the Minister. Other members of the Slovak delegation also participated in the discussion. There was the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Environment, the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, who is responsible for cooperation in the field of energy, and of course the partner of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Blanár.
Minister, once again, welcome to Slovakia. The conversation was open. I think that none of us hid anything, and again you have probably heard in Slovakia opinions that you do not usually hear, especially regarding the war in Ukraine, but that is what we are here for. We are not here to lie to our partners or to mislead them with information that does not come from objectivity. Thank you for coming, and we look forward to further cooperation.
Thank you very much. Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America.
First of all, thank you, Prime Minister, for welcoming us. You said to me we had not too long ago in Florida, in my state, that we discussed that regarding specific airframes, some impediments to it. We were able to resolve those, and we are happy that that was resolved, because it is an example of how this direct engagement could lead to more things we can achieve together. In that meeting, energy, energy security, use of things, engagement, have all teams, people, engagement, engagement, Europe more, from the United States, Prime Minister, group V4, are engaged, controversial, is view, United States, President, United States, President, country, we, country, in their national interest. That is what countries are supposed to do. That was the leaders of their countries. I don't know why that is like a strange consideration.
The fact of the matter is we view policy the exact same way. Now, when our national interests are aligned, when the national interest of the United States, for example, and the national interest of Slovakia are aligned, this is extraordinary for cooperation and for partnership. Where there might be some misalignment, that is where the relationship comes in, that is where the partnership comes in, that is where we try to accommodate one another and find a way forward. There is nothing controversial about that, at least not as long as President Trump is in the White House. And we believe that with the area of common alignment there are so many things we can work on together that are good for your country, good for our country, frankly good for Europe, and good for the world. I also appreciate your input with regards to the war in Ukraine. It is important that we take as many views, views, public, geography, point, in context, yesterday, in response, we view the United States' role as trying to facilitate an end to a very deadly, very bloody, very costly war, horrible suffering, President, high level, facilitators, but you, next door to, on the border, input, of things have to work together, energy, one, I think you have an opportunity, nation, not because, to be in a very advantageous role when it comes to new technologies like artificial intelligence, opportunity, there, very energy dependent industry, Famart, key, any country, is, more, migration, any, people, people, you go crazy, that means abandon, you are going to abandon your allies. I think we are making is that the stronger our allies are, the stronger we are collectively, the stronger we are collectively, and so we want to be, we want to play a positive role in that regard, and you are doing many good things in that space, and we want to thank you and want to continue to work with you on that. So there are many things that we have an opportunity to work together on.
Thank you for saying never, never, day for my faith, and I know for many of you as well, but it was, but I thank you for opening space to us on this day, because we wanted to show, and we are showing, and we are going to show in the weeks and months and years to come that under President Trump this administration is going to make not Slovakia but Central Europe a key component of how we engage the continent and the world, and that we are, con, ben, people, as well here. When did we, here we are, be back and be sending others back, and I think some members of your team are going to be coming to Washington this week to have a conversation.
Thank you very much. Now there is space for questions. I ask for the first question. Slovak Television.
Good day, Katarína Chovančáková, Slovak Television and Radio. Minister, the United States last week handed over the command of two NATO structures to Europeans. There is talk of a possible withdrawal of American troops from Europe. There are opinions that NATO is dead. What is the position of the United States in NATO and within the cooperation between Slovakia and the United States in defense? Prime Minister, you also talked about the defense agreement, the signing of which you criticized in the past. You wanted to cancel it, then you admitted some changes. Was this topic also discussed? Thank you.
America. Okay. I don't understand. The United States has thousands and thousands of troops deployed to the NATO mission, and we have made very clear, I think it was made very clear at the summit just a few days ago at the meeting of the defense minister level, we are not leaving NATO. We are not leaving. I mean, we may move a couple thousand troops from one country to another, but this has always been the case, always happened. By the way, we are not threatened or feel it. We want to see NATO grow in its own capabilities. Nations have more, other countries with more capability. We, that I see it reported yesterday in some places, the Europeans are very upset, they are going to be less dependent on America. Now, we never, we don't want Europe to be dependent. We are not asking Europe to be a vassal of the United States. We want to be your, we work with Europe, we work with our allies, we work in cooperation with you. And our point has been, continues to be, the stronger you are, both on an individual basis in terms of countries and collectively as an alliance, the stronger the members of NATO are, the stronger NATO is. That is not minus the United States, that is just common sense. If you have an alliance made up of countries, the stronger all those members are, the stronger the alliance is. And we want the alliance to be so strong that no one will ever, ever dare test it. No one will ever challenge it. So we welcome any steps that strengthen it.
I just want to say that the question you are asking, or the agenda, was not the subject of our talks, but undoubtedly the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, will provide you with information about where the talks on this topic stand, because talks on this topic are underway, but it was not the subject of today's negotiations.
Thank you very much. I ask for the second question. Washington Post.
Thanks very much, Secretary. Will the Trump administration consult and inform Congress in advance if it decides to attack Iran, remove the Supreme Leader? On the minds of many, given the major potential consequences of a new war in the Middle East. And also, five European countries issued a joint statement saying Alexei Navalny was most likely poisoned by a toxin found in South American frogs. How come the United States, Prime Minister, thank you for your hospitality. On Venezuela, you strongly opposed America's removal of Maduro by force, saying it demonstrates a deepening breakdown of the international order. Do you still feel that way given where we are at now? And also, you have denied saying that you were worried about President Trump's psychological state following your meeting with him in August.
Prefers diplomacy out of negotiations, dealing with people, geopolitical decisions on basing theology and complicated things. No, ever. Do we, laws, United States, Congress, decisions, any, that we are postured in the region for one simple reason, and that is that we understand that there could be threats to our forces in the region. We have seen them be threatened in the past, and we want to make sure that we have sufficient capacity to defend them if, God forbid, that were to happen.
It depends on. Right now we are focused on negotiations. That is what the President has made clear. If that changes, it will be obvious to everyone, and obviously whatever the law requires us to do. With regard to your question about the frog toxin, no, it is a very serious thing. Look, those countries came to that conclusion, they coordinated that. We chose, doesn't mean we disagree with the outcome, we just, it wasn't, you know, our endeavor. Sometimes countries go out and do their thing based on the intelligence they have gathered. We obviously are aware of the report, a troubling report. We are aware of that case, Mr. Navalny, and certainly it is, you know, we don't have any reason to question it, or we are not disputing or getting into a fight with these countries over it, but it was their report and they put that out there. And one more point, I think you asked him a question, like, see if you can get him against us, something about a country that was in our national interest, do one day that we don't like and say, hey, we like you did so what. That doesn't mean we are not going to be friends, we are not going to be partners, we are not going to be able to cooperate with one another. Countries express their opinion all the time. We have very close allies. Like what we did in that regard, I can tell you what, it was successful, we are proud of it, it was necessary. The guy was a narcoterrorist, and we made a bunch of offers and he chose. And look, I can tell you Venezuela is much better off. We agree. And.
