Peter Pellegrini, who won the presidential elections in Slovakia, said on the RTVS television channel that Bratislava will act more independently within the framework of NATO and the EU.
“No one can change the course of our foreign policy, but I confirm that in these organizations (NATO and the EU -
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) we must act more independently. We need our voice to be heard. We must oppose if any decisions have a negative impact on Slovakia, on our economy or the people living here. Our orientation towards the European Union and NATO is clear, but, on the other hand, we must look in all directions,” RIA Novosti quotes Pellegrini.
Let us remind you that according to the results of the second round of the presidential elections in Slovakia, Pellegrini received 53.12% of the votes. His opponent, former Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korczok, received 46.87% of the votes, although in the first round it was he who received more votes.
Pellegrini is the speaker of the National Council (Parliament) of Slovakia and the leader of the Voice - Social Democracy party, which is part of the ruling coalition. Korcok participated in the presidential race as a public candidate, but he was supported by the liberal Progressive Slovakia party, which was in opposition to the government of Roberto Fico.
Ukraine theme
Peter Pellegrini's political career began in 2002 as an assistant to a member of the Slovak Parliament. Four years later, he himself became the people's representative. From 2012 to 2014, Pellegrini worked as State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Slovakia, then took the post of Minister of Education.
Polling station in Slovakia
AP
© Denes Erdos
In March 2016, Pellegrini was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic Robert Fico for Investments and Informatization. In June 2020, he founded the Voice - Social Democracy party. In September 2023, in early parliamentary elections, his party took third place and entered the ruling coalition, and the following month Pellegrini was elected speaker of the country's National Council.
The former speaker of parliament, and now the elected president of Slovakia, is opposed to military assistance to Ukraine and the sending of Slovak military personnel to the territory of a warring state. In addition, he is confident that pumping weapons into the Kyiv regime will have catastrophic consequences for the security of Europe. From Pellegrini's point of view, the Ukrainian crisis should be resolved through negotiations as soon as possible.
On the Ukrainian issue, Pellegrini fully shares the approach of Robert Fico, who regained the prime minister's chair at the end of last year. Pellegrini said this at the end of March in an interview with the TASR news agency.
“The government of Slovakia has taken a realistic position (on the Ukrainian crisis. -
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), seeing that in two years we have not advanced anywhere... Ukraine, of course, attacks Russian territory, and there are also killed women, children and old people there. This cannot continue. We said: let’s stop the fire and start some peace negotiations,” RIA Novosti quotes Pellegrini.
He also expressed bewilderment that some European countries are not ready to respect Slovakia for its approach to the Ukrainian conflict. As Pellegrini said, Bratislava can help Ukraine, but, for example, in matters of demining territories and implementing civilian projects.
On April 7, after the results of the second round were announced, the former speaker of parliament reiterated the importance of a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian conflict.
“I started talking about peace not because I wanted to be better than my opponent, but because I believe: we need to stop the deaths of people as soon as possible, right now, if it were possible, and only then start negotiations. How to maintain a military conflict that has not brought any results for two years? All we have is the loss of life. This is an absolute tragedy,” Pellegrini emphasized.
In a commentary to RT, Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, called the victory of the speaker of the Slovak parliament “evidence of the growth of sanity in Slovak society.”
“In his election campaign, Pellegrini appealed to the sanity of the citizens of Slovakia, and this ultimately brought results. In the second round, he was able to defeat the liberal Korczok, whom the European press quite rightly called a pro-Ukrainian candidate,” Olenchenko said.
The expert drew attention to the similarity of the positions of Pellegrini and Fico. In his opinion, “there is mutual understanding” between the leaders, so Slovakia will be a consistent supporter of ending military support for Kyiv.
In turn, political scientist, associate professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities Vadim Trukhachev explained Pellegrini’s victory as “uncontrollable fatigue from the armament of Ukraine.”
“Pellegrini won because most of Slovak society does not want to bear the burden of the costs of military support for Ukraine. Slovakia is not such a rich country, and not all citizens are happy that significant sums are allocated from the state budget for benefits to Ukrainian refugees. In my opinion, Korchok lost because he advocated a much more loyal policy to Kyiv,” Trukhachev explained in a commentary to RT.
From an expert’s point of view, Pellegrini won the presidential election on the wave of promises to pursue a more independent policy and fight attempts to interfere in the affairs of the republic by states pursuing an aggressive anti-Russian course.
“Pellegrini cannot be called a pro-Russian politician, but he is the person who is ready to resist attempts to interfere in the affairs of Slovakia. Such attempts, in particular, are being made by Russophobic countries like the neighboring Czech Republic. I think the fact that Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala stood behind Korczok played a role in the second round. In other words, the Slovaks voted for their sovereignty and refusal to drag the republic into confrontation with Russia,” Trukhachev emphasized.
"I'm tired of tightening my belts"
In a commentary to RT, Vladimir Schweitzer, head of the department of social and political research at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, suggested that with the election of Pellegrini, Slovakia will interact more closely with Hungary on the “Ukrainian issue.”
“These countries are united not only by the common foreign policy views of their leadership. Bratislava and Budapest have big complaints against Kyiv regarding the situation of national minorities in Ukraine. Ethnic Hungarians and Slovaks on Ukrainian territory are discriminated against and forced to fight Russia. Most likely, with Pellegrini coming to power, Slovakia and Hungary will cooperate more closely, preventing the implementation of pro-Ukrainian initiatives coming from other NATO and EU members,” Schweitzer believes.
Peter Pellegrini with Robert Fico (right)
The expert recalled that Pellegrini had already received congratulations from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the country's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó.
“Orban said that the success of the speaker of the Slovak parliament in the presidential elections was a great victory for the people and supporters of peace in Europe. Szijjarto published a similar congratulation on social networks, noting that his (Pellegrini. -
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) victory is “new reinforcement” of the forces defending sovereignty and advocating peace,” said Schweitzer.
Vadim Trukhachev believes that in the near future the peculiar alliance of Slovakia and Hungary will not change the policies of the EU and NATO, but it is an “eloquent illustration” of the growing popularity of alternative forces in Europe that are dissatisfied with the consequences of the Ukrainian crisis.
“Of course, there is no need to indulge yourself with illusions, but negativity towards Ukraine in European society is rapidly increasing. The Europeans are tired of tightening their belts; they are not ready to help Kyiv to their detriment,” Trukhachev said.
In a conversation with RT, political scientist Andrei Suzdaltsev said that as the Ukrainian crisis worsens, the popularity of politicians and parties that advocate for defending national interests will increase. And this trend, as the expert believes, will certainly manifest itself in the elections to the European Parliament, which will be held from June 6 to 9.
“The European Parliament is a representative body. It can be called a marker of public opinion in the European Union. The right and other forces opposed to the EU mainstream have a good chance of taking many more seats than in 2019. The European voter's tolerance for the topic of Ukraine is running out. More and more people want their governments to pursue a policy of national interests, rather than focus on the needs of Kyiv,” summed up Suzdaltsev.