Slovakia: Fico questions Article 5 collective defence
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has called into question Article 5 of the Nato Treaty. "I don't want Slovakia to be drawn into an armed conflict because of some Article 5," he said last week. The article states that an armed attack against one member is treated as an attack against all. Commentators condemn Fico for his statements.
An unsettling ally
Český rozhlas is concerned:
“In reality, the Slovak prime minister is doing everything he can to undermine Western unity in the negotiations on anti-Russian sanctions and support for Ukraine. He is negotiating with Vladimir Putin – nobody knows what about – and at home he is waging a disinformation campaign about the war. In so doing he is calling into question the very foundations of Atlantic security cooperation at a time when the leaders of Poland, France, Germany, Finland, and now also the Czech Republic and other countries are warning that Russia poses an acute threat. Having such an ally on the eastern border is very unsettling.”
Gambling with people’s lives
Aktuality.sk comments:
“If the prime minister of a Nato member state calls into question the article of the alliance treaty that protects that very state, it is nothing short of treason. ... Treason against the state and its citizens. And a reckless gamble with the integrity of the republic and the lives of its citizens. ... The collective defence of democratic nations should be a matter of course, even without Article 5. You don't need a treaty to be obliged to stand up for someone who has been wronged. What sort of person would want to shirk such a duty?”