In his reaction to the US administration's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Slovak President Andrej Kiska called the day a "sad day for our planet". The Environment Minister László Sólymos expressed his disappointment, too since he sees climate change as an important global issue which affects everybody. "It's clear that economic interests won over the rational and expert arguments that represent the basis of the Paris Agreement," said the Slovak Environment Minister. At the same time, he agreed with the UN Secretary General António Guterres' statement that climate change is undeniable and uncontrollable. "It is now up to the European Union to lead the fight against climate change along with China and India," said László Sólymos.
The decision by US President Donald Trump is irreversible, said a Slovak Foreign Policy Association analyst. "It is the USA's most serious foreign policy decision," stated the analyst. According to him, this could result in "with or without you" scenarios. "Either the world community realises that it is impossible to act without the USA and begs it to return to the Agreement or the Agreement will work without the US," thinks Dušan Fischer. As he added, it is impossible for the US to be the leader in climate issues while securing the regulation's status quo.
The agreement on decreasing emissions to slow down climate change was signed by the Barack Obama administration. Altogether, 196 countries signed the document in December 2015. On 1st June, 2017, the incumbent US president Donald Trump announced that the USA would withdraw from the agreement and seek a new deal. France, Germany and Italy jointly rejected reopening climate talks.
