PM: Integration within EU benefit Slovakia

The efforts aimed at boosting integration within the EU also benefit Slovakia, said Prime Minister Robert Fico, on a political discussion show Saturday Dialogues broadcast on the public-service Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS). The premier stressed that he agrees with the creation of the banking union and the co-ordination of national budgets of individual EU-member states. Nevertheless, there are certain limits, which he wouldn't like Slovakia to cross. "If somebody in Brussels says that not only you (Slovakia) have to talk your state budget over with us, but we'll also decide whether to approve it or not, Slovakia wouldn't certainly agree with this," he said. Fico said that Europe has taken a significant step forward as regards the efficiency of tackling various crisis situations in the past few years, mainly within the banking sector. "I no longer sense such chaos and helplessness as at the beginning of the recession. Today, (the Union is governed by means of) systematic measures; the European Council can be now viewed as an institution that knows what it's doing and where it's heading to," he said, adding that the course of the body is set predominantly on deeper integration.