Slovak National Party head says USA is dictator

Slovak National Party head says USA is dictator
CTK National News Wire - April 1, 2007 Sunday 6:09 PM (Central European Time)

Bratislava April 1 (CTK) - The USA is behaving like a dictator in the world, liquidating whole nations, Jan Slota, chairman of the junior ruling Slovak National Party (SNS), said in public Slovak Television (STV) today.

He added that the USA wished another war in the Balkans and this is why it pushed for independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Slota, who is notorious with his controversial statements, also criticised the USA for having bombed Belgrade in the 1990s during the war in Kosovo. "Serbia was then more devastated than after WW2," he said.

Slota stressed that Americans would like to destroy Serbs who had defended Christianity against Turkish invasions in the past.

Though the current Slovak cabinet of Robert Fico (Smer-SD), including also SNS ministers, does not conceal a certain distance from the U.S. foreign policy, it said it would respect all commitments ensuing from its NATO membership.

Slota today called on Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis not to vote for Kosovo's limited independence, proposed by U.N. commissioner Martti Ahtisaari, in the U.N. Security Council whose elected member Slovakia is.

"He [Kubis] should minimally abstain from the vote," said Slota.

He pointed out that Kubis is bound by the document in which the Slovak parliament this week rejected the unlimited independence of Kosovo and wanted Serbia's demands to be respected.

Unlike other EU countries, Slovak diplomacy has taken a reserved stance on Ahtisaari's plan for Kosovo.

Kubis said after Friday's debate of the EU foreign ministers that Slovakia cannot take a position on the plan.

Fico said that Slovakia would not vote for the U.N. resolution on Kosovo if Slovak comments are not taken into consideration in it.

Unlike most other EU countries, Kosovo's future is an important political topic debated in Slovakia in the past weeks. It has been connected with fears that Kosovo's possible independence could support the autonomy demands of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.