Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the press conference of the meeting between the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico, and the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Mr. Prime Minister, please, I hand the floor over to you.
Thank you very much.
Good afternoon. Good.
Dear Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States, dear Marco Rubio, allow me to welcome you once again, together with your delegation, to Bratislava at the Government of the Slovak Republic.
Ladies and gentlemen, together with the Minister, we first had a short meeting 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 manually summarize the conclusions of our talks, whether they were one-on-one or in 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, Mr. Trump, in the presence of Mr. Rubio. Therefore, this is an excellent follow-up, it is a wonderful continuation, and we were able to say shortly after we saw each other in Florida where we have gotten to in the topics we discussed together.
I consider the most essential thing from today's meeting, dear Minister, to be that we respect each other. I emphasized that I am a representative of a government that wants to pursue a sovereign Slovak policy oriented toward all four corners of the world. I emphasized that my basic priority is not to protect national and nation-state interests, but that my basic duty is to protect the national and nation-state interests of the Slovak Republic.
And I think it is the right understanding that wherever our interests converge, we act as allies. Where we have different views, we are forced to negotiate and to reach appropriate solutions. I think I am among the politicians who are always very open in conversations, and I do everything to say the same thing publicly that I say in private meetings. 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 12, 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 an additional nuclear block with a capacity of 1200 MW by 2040. And we look forward to signing concrete agreements with the company during the coming year.
I also asked our American partners, of course, for cooperation already in these stages of preparing this project, because this project goes beyond the scope 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 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 mainly talking 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 alternatives, and I truly believe that tomorrow's meeting with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, could bring some progress regarding the crisis situation that is currently emerging in the area of oil supplies to Europe and to the refineries controlled by the Hungarian company MOL.
The third topic was the war in Ukraine. Here Slovakia has its original, unique views that 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 it will continue for quite a while longer. We do not see a way out to a peaceful end 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 the President, because it is the approach of a person who is very pragmatic and rational in ending 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 end of this war, we are fully prepared.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to inform you that as of July 1, 2026, Slovakia takes over the chairmanship of an exceptional structure of regional cooperation, namely 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 regional cooperation, but we should also consider gradually inviting partners to topics that will be very relevant 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 Americans, and the partners in the V4 naturally agree with that, we will be ready to organize such meetings. On behalf of 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 further budgets for the coming years. We must take into account our possibilities and capabilities. But we also realize that Slovakia, if it wants to be part of collective security in Europe and in NATO, will have to participate in gradually strengthening our capacities.
I would also like to ask for understanding in the fact 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, we procured 16 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 four more 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 between 2020 and 2023. There are many other aspects of military cooperation because we are NATO, and this was also discussed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Robert Kaliňák, together with the Minister. Other members of the Slovak delegation also participated in the discussion. There was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, who is responsible for energy cooperation, 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 you have probably heard views in Slovakia that you do not normally 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 being here, and we look forward to further cooperation.
Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. The United States Secretary of State.
First of all, thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for welcoming us. This is a follow-up, as you said, to a meeting we had not too long ago in Florida, in my home state. After that, we discussed the issue of specific airplanes, 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 fact, that meeting happened the day after a deal was signed with Westinghouse and our Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright. The groundwork for this energy opportunity is incredible. I use these things only to illustrate direct engagement. We both have excellent teams and people that work very hard and communicate all the time, but there is no substitute for that direct level of engagement, and engagement in Central Europe is what you can expect from the United States of America.
Prime Minister, you mentioned the V4 group and cooperation. You mentioned something else. I don't know why it ever became controversial, but to remind everybody of it, it is the view of the President of the United States, President Trump, and of the United States under his presidency, that we expect every country in the world to act in their national interest. That is the policy, exactly. Now, when our national interests align, when the national interest of the United States, for example, and the national interest of Slovakia are aligned, this is an extraordinary opportunity 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, and that is where we can work together on many things.
I appreciate your input on the war in Ukraine. It is important, as many views, and the view that you expressed publicly as well, is one that is informed by both your geography and by your history, and it is a very important point of view to take into account in the broader context. As I said yesterday in response to some questions in Munich, we view the United States' role as one of trying to facilitate an end to a very deadly, very bloody, very costly war. The horrible suffering that is happening right now is horrifying. You know, people in the part of the year, you know, energy... We, at the highest level of our government, are trying to be facilitators of a negotiated end to this terrible conflict, and it is something that we care about. But it is something you live next door to. You are right there, you face it, and not only do you have to face the consequences of the war, but you will also have to face the benefits or the consequences of the peace.
Energy is something we always consider, and we consider some others as well that we can work together on, because apart from one of the key components of any country's national interest, to protect their people, there is no more important obligation of any government than the ability to protect your own people and your own nation. This is why, by the way, we talk about the importance of our partners having capabilities. And every time we say this, people, you know, they go crazy. They think, oh, that means abandon, you are going to abandon your allies. I think the point we are making is that the stronger our allies are, the stronger we are collectively. And so 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. But first, thank you for receiving me here on a Sunday. I try never to burden people on Sundays. It is an important day for me because of my faith, and I know you as well. But I thank you for opening space for us to show that the engagement of the United States under the Trump administration is going to make not just Slovakia, but Central Europe, a key component of how we engage the continent and the world, and that we are not just going to engage in meetings and pleasantries, but in concrete actions that we will take together in ways that are beneficial to your people and our people, ways that are beneficial to your country and our country.
Thank you very much. Now there is space for questions. I will ask for the first question. Slovak Television.
Good afternoon, 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... What is the position of the United States in NATO and within the defense cooperation between Slovakia and the United States? Mr. Prime Minister, you also talked about the defense agreement that you criticized in the past. You wanted to cancel it, then you admitted some changes. Was this topic also discussed? Thank you.
The United States has thousands and thousands of troops deployed to the mission, and we made very clear, I think it was made very clear at the summit just a few days ago, at the meeting of the defense ministers, that 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, it has always happened. By the way, we are not happy to see our own capabilities... We want our allies to have more capabilities, we want other nations to have more capabilities, we want other countries to have more capability. We think that is a positive. I see it reported yesterday in some places, oh, the Europeans are very upset, they are going to be less dependent on us 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 partner. We want to work with you. We want to work with our allies. We want to work in cooperation with you. And our point has been and 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 a minus for the United States. That is just common sense. Okay? If you have an alliance made up of countries, the stronger all those members are, the stronger the alliance is. We want all strong, no one ever...
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 and 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 will ask for the second question. The Washington Post.
Thanks very much, Secretary. Will the Trump administration consult and inform Congress in advance if it decides to attack Iran and remove the Supreme Leader? A question on the minds of many, given the major 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 a South American frog. How come the United States did not join the statement? Prime Minister, on Venezuela, you strongly opposed America's removal of Maduro by force, saying it demonstrates a deepening breakdown of the international order. Do you feel that way given where we are at now? And also, you denied saying that you were worried about President Trump's psychological state following your meeting with him in Mar-a-Lago. Can you explain how this came about?
