Fico said that he accepted “with full respect” the decision of the citizens of Hungary in Sunday’s elections. “I am ready for intensive cooperation with the new Hungarian prime minister,” he wrote on his Facebook profile. He did not mention the name, although it is assumed that it will be the leader of the opposition party Tisza Péter Magyar.
Fico emphasized that Slovakia’s goals are not changing. Firstly, Slovakia is said to be “interested in mutually beneficial relations with Hungary and in the above-standard status of national minorities in the territory of both states”.
In the second point, he stated that the Slovak government wishes to revive the V4 format, and in the third he wrote that he wants “joint action with Hungary in protecting our energy interests: “I believe that there is still an eminent interest of Slovakia and Hungary and the whole of Central Europe in resuming the operation of the Družba pipeline.”
It stopped working after it was hit by the Russians during an airstrike. Ukraine has not yet repaired it and oil does not flow through it. Both Slovakia and Hungary have to use transport via the Adriatic pipeline and buy oil from the railways.
Fico thanked Orbán
In the very next post, Fico wrote: “I express my gratitude to the outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister V. Orbán for the years of excellent cooperation.”
He stated that Slovak-Hungarian relations “never had such a high level”.
At the same time, he ignored the deterioration of mutual relations in 2010, when Orbán cooperated with the then extremely nationalist Jobbik movement, which founded the Hungarian Guard and was close to big-player nationalists.
In the post, Fico emphasized that he is writing this “outside the framework of evaluating the Hungarian parliamentary elections.” He did not directly comment on them, but on Saturday he unequivocally supported Viktor Orbán in the elections with the wish that “his political goals will be fulfilled”.
Both Fico and Orbán share anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian positions.
