According to SMER-SD head, Robert Fico, a group of Slovak state bureaucrats and NGOs informed EU and NATO officials that the Slovak political opposition poses a hybrid threat and that if it wins the parliamentary election, Slovakia might leave NATO. Robert Fico claims that this operation constituted a coordinated approach to discredit the opposition and interfere in the election campaign.
Fico rejected claims that Slovakia will leave NATO if his party wins the election. "We respect and honour the commitments that Slovakia has towards these organisations," he said, adding that no opposition party poses any threat to Slovak democracy. Smer-SD intends to ask the chairs of House supervisory committees to convene a joint session, summon all the Slovak participants in the visit and have them submit all documents and records of the trip.
In reaction to the claims by Robert Fico, the Interior Ministry stated on Wednesday that it is legitimate for state administration experts to deal with hybrid threats and devise plans to defend the state against them.
The National Security Authority confirmed the presence of its representative at the meeting in April. Its spokesperson added that the meeting revolved around the European fight against disinformation and hybrid threats. "This was a standard working visit in the sphere of hybrid threats, attended by state institutions and NGOs at the invitation of the European Commission's Representation to Slovakia. The Interior Ministry emphatically objects to conspiracy theories, the aim of which is to unsettle voters in Slovakia," said ministry spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova.
Source: TASR
