The National Council of Slovakia adopted a resolution on June 5, recommending that the government refrain from supporting new sanctions against the Russian Federation at the international level. This initiative was supported by 51 out of 76 deputies present at the parliamentary session.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Positions of Deputies and Government on Sanctions
Overall, the National Council consists of 150 elected representatives, so the support for the resolution amounted to only a third of the total membership. Opposition representatives did not participate in the vote. In the ruling party “Direction” of Prime Minister Robert Fico, one deputy opposed the decision, while 23 coalition members abstained from voting.
In the text of the resolution, the deputies noted that the sanctions policy against Russia, in their opinion, contributes to rising energy costs and weakens the competitiveness of Slovak enterprises.
“Parliament rejects the introduction and expansion of sanctions and trade restrictions against the Russian Federation,” the document states.
Opposition Reaction and Future Prospects
The resolution is advisory in nature and is not mandatory for the Slovak government to implement. However, earlier, Prime Minister Robert Fico had repeatedly criticized the tightening of sanctions and called on the European Union not to complicate the purchase of Russian energy resources for Bratislava.
The leader of the opposition “Progressive Slovakia,” Michal Šimečka, criticized the parliament’s decision, emphasizing that it increases the country’s isolation among its EU partners. According to him, now “the government is responsible for the fact that no one is talking to Slovakia.”