BRATISLAVA – Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico castigated Politico on Wednesday for reporting what he characterised as ‘lies’ regarding discussions he held with European leaders about his latest assembly with Donald Trump.
“I STRONGLY REJECT THE LIES OF THE HATEFUL, PRO-BRUSSELS LIBERAL PORTAL POLITICO,” Fico wrote on X. “It’s a unhappy take a look at the liberal and progressive political and media world.”
The emotional outburst got here in response to an article Politico printed Wednesday morning. The US-based portal quoted nameless “diplomats” who claimed to have heard second hand that Fico informed different European leaders after assembly Trump in Mar-a-Lago just lately that he was involved about Trump’s “psychological state” and that the American president got here throughout as “harmful”.
Politico claimed that Fico, one in every of a handful of European leaders on good phrases with Trump, made the remarks on the side-lines of final week’s European Council summit in Brussels.
“Whereas not one of the diplomats who spoke to Politico had been current, particular person leaders briefed them individually on the content material of the dialog shortly after it,” Politico wrote.
In response to Fico’s assault, a spokesman for Politico stated the outlet stood by its reporting. “Politico is an unbiased, non-partisan media organisation,” he stated.
Fico insisted he hadn’t spoken informally with any prime minister or president about his go to to the USA, including that the Politico’s aim was “solely to destroy the constructive relationships that Slovakia has with all 4 corners of the world.”
“Nobody heard something, nobody noticed something, there are not any witnesses, however nothing prevented the POLITICO portal from developing with lies,” Fico wrote.
Strategies that the Trump assembly could have unsettled Fico first surfaced over the weekend in Slovak media. Fico’s junior coalition associate Andrej Danko, chief of the far-right SNS occasion, stated in a Radio Slovakia debate that the Slovak prime minister had been “frightened” by his assembly with Trump.
Danko stated this was why Fico can be visiting French President Emmanuel Macron this week for the primary time since Macron’s re-election in October 2023.
Earlier this week, Fico confirmed plans for a go to to Paris on Thursday, saying the agenda of the talks “can be huge”.
Magnus Lund Nielsen contributed to reporting.
(cs, mk)
