Slovakia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar is in Malta today for talks with his Maltese counterpart Minister Chris Fearne. This is the first visit by a Foreign Minister from Slovakia in 12 years Minister Fearne stated.
There is a very good reason why Malta is currently prioritising its friendships with small states in the EU and it is because they are rallying against the qualified-majority voting principle in the EU Council. Today’s meeting is like a conglomeration of rogue states in the EU who are going to discuss how to undermine majority-supported decisions at the EU Council.
Both governments have different reasons and political backgrounds for their opposition to the qualified-majority principle. Malta’s main concerns are mainly on taxation which Malta considers a red-line. On the other hand, Slovakia has been using the veto at the EU Council to appease Moscow and undermine the EU’s support for Ukraine.
Incidentally, the Slovak government has its own uncanny parallels with Malta as it is also mired in a scandal involving the murder of a journalist Jรกn Kuciak and his fiancรฉe Martina Kuลกnรญrovรก, who were murdered in their home in February 2018, while Kuciak was investigating corruption and links between businessmen and Slovakia’s political elite. The businessman who was accused of commissioning the murder, Mariรกn Koฤner, was also freed from his charges. He is still in prison though facing a re-trial.
This is like the worst kids in the class huddling together to conspire out of jealous resentment against their far more accomplished classmates.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
Leave a Reply