European Union chief Von der Leyen condemns “vile” attack on Slovak Prime Minister • FRANCE 24
well let’s talk a bit more about what is happening Dave keing joins me live now from Brussels Dave what reaction is there this hour at the European level to the shooting of Robert fitzu yeah we’ve had reaction pouring in from EU leaders and that is a reaction of pure shock uh so we’ve had a a statement from European commission president Ursula ferion who called this a vile act in an attack on democracy we also had a statement from European Council president charl Michelle who said he was shocked and that there could be no excuse for this type of political violence we’ve also had statements from opposition figures in Slovakia people who are normally foes of the populist leader Robert Vito who is normally not very friendly toward the European Union we’ve had leaders here quite rattled by this I have to say Brussels over the past hour has become quite shaken by this this is the first time at least since I’ve been here that there has been a serious assassination attempt on a European Union prime minister so everyone’s just waiting for news now on his condition but of course as we just heard uh if it is true as is being reported that he has sustained wounds in his head uh there’s a lot of concern about what comes next here right absolutely while we wait though for that information to come in as to his health status Dave give us a little of the of the the context um for Slovakia walk us back to September the election win and what that meant for the European Union yeah Robert fito has been in power for Slovakia for a very long time but essentially there was old fighto and now there’s new fso so when he returned to B in September he returned as a very changed person uh he is a close Ally of farri Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban even though fso was actually from left he is still a member of the center left group in the European Parliament but he has kind of rebranded himself as an anti-eu populist and as an ally of Russia defender of Russia as someone who like Victor Orban has been opposing EU Aid to Ukraine saying that Ukraine needs to essentially surrender to Russia uh in order uh to bring the war to an end interestingly we’ve had all this controversy over the uh anti- forign agents law in Georgia that’s just been passed by the Georgian Parliament that’s perceived as a pro-russian law that’s going to pull Georgia away from the EU orbit and toward the Russian orbit well Robert fitzer was going to introduce the same law in Slovakia that was hugely controversial so this is a law saying that anyone who gets foreign funding has to register as a foreign agent and it’s seen as something that Russia is making these Russia friendly countries do we don’t know if that plan had anything to do with this assassination attempt uh but certainly that’s the context that all of this is happening in he is seen as a pro-russian anti-eu leader uh and certainly here in Brussels he is seen as a kind of sidekick of Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban Dave keting live for us there in Brussels as we continue to digest that news that the Slovakian prime minister Robert fito is with told in a lifethreatening condition today after being shot several times when he was on a trip to the town of Handover more on that as soon as we get it
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen denounced the “vile attack” on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who on Wednesday was reportedly shot and hospitalised after a cabinet meeting. More information with FRANCE 24 correspondent in Brussels, Dave Keating.
#Slovakia #RobertFico #UrsulaVonDerLeyen
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15 comments
Who voted for this von der Leyen?
WW1 started with an assassination – The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo (the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina) on 28 June 1914 eventually led to the outbreak of the First World War.
She is lying, she actually enjoys it!
EU and US were just trying to democratize Slovakia because Slovakia was on the wrong path.
Wondering who will benefit from Robert Fico's death🤔
You are either in the EU or not.
Dont sellout your country for Russian money.
Africa knows eu is a thug hiding behind the idea of democracy.
Can you take this guy off screen already. Its exactly due to the BS he keeps spouting why people have radical views about conservative politicians.
Speedy recovery to Mr. Fico! this time who is to blame? the prime minister who leads his citizens to prosperity and peace ended up getting shot, so much for democratic Western values.
Victoria Nuland 😮
after Russia’s war on Ukraine, only hate being propagated
Trasfer him to moscow russia hospital, he like russia
Great news a Patriot HERO has stood up to Putin's KGB stooge in Slovakia, the EU should be ashamed of itself for not acting to rid itself of these KGB sleepers!
The western mass media shamelessly uses every opportunity to attack the elected Hungarian government. Now they also listed their usual lying propaganda slogans (pro-Russian, anti-EU, etc…) Precisely, people brainwashed by such lying political manipulators, who are capable of committing such atrocities. It would be better if these "journalists" would come to their senses and say the mea culpa.
Leyen may be the one behind the plot as she is the governor appointed by USA to rule Europe and clean up all people who stand up for the interests of Europe and their own country.