TA3 | Spotlight on Slovakia and Hungary
The regimes of Mr Fico and Mr Orbán do not play by democratic values and fair rules, and there is a risk that they will be pressured by other EU countries in terms of the rule of law or other actions they take. At the same time, there are certain trade relations and other links between these countries and the Russian Federation. Hungary and Slovakia are blocking the European Council's decision out of their own interests. Martin Vokálek, Executive Director of the EUROPEUM Institute, commented for ta3.
26. June 2025
EU Member States are realising that we need to do much more in defence. But that certainly does not mean that we should become a neutral state. Neither the Czech Republic nor Slovakia can afford to be a neutral state in its position; we belong to the West, we belong to NATO, but in order to stay there and for the North Atlantic Alliance to defend itself, we must invest more in our defence.
There is also a big question mark hanging over the situation between Iran and Israel, where there has been a large and rapid escalation as part of the US attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran, and although it looks more like de-escalation these days, we will have to wait and see how the leaders of the 27 will deal with it.
Watch the whole interview here.
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