In September this year, the Slovak parliamentary election "changed", and the direction party led by the former left-wing Prime Minister Fizo re-emerged, defeated the liberal party with an absolute advantage, and became prime minister again. At present, Fizo has successively shown goodwill to China and Russia, sending signals to improve relations, and at a time when the EU is trying to find a way to contain China, in addition to Orban, we can have one more good friend.
With a population of 5.5 million, Slovakia is located in the heart of the European Union and is a direct neighbor of Ukraine. Previously, Slovakia, like the West as a whole, was a strong supporter of Ukraine, and successively assisted Ukraine with armored vehicles, howitzers and all Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets.
But in this year's general election, Fizo came out of the encirclement, criticizing the West for continuing to aid Ukraine, saying that "war comes from the West and peace comes from the East", and advocated that peace negotiations are the only way to stop the conflict. At the same time, he promised that if the Direction party wins the elections, then Slovakia will not provide Ukraine with another bullet and will also oppose Ukraine's accession to NATO.
[Slovakia's new Prime Minister Fizo]
The reason why Fizo did this is because he believes that the people of Slovakia are much more important than standing with the West to help Ukraine, and will pay more attention to the development of their own people in the future. It is precisely because of this series of remarks that the EU is very worried, fearing that Fizo may join hands with Hungary, the EU's "thorn", to criticize the EU and become another opposition force in the EU.
But sometimes, the more you are afraid of something, the more you will come. Soon after Fizzo came to power, he immediately turned his attention to China, and recently posted on his social platform, praising China, saying that China's economic achievements are enough to be respected by the world, and at the same time affirming that China is a stabilizing factor for global security. At the same time, Fizzo also threw out an olive branch, hoping to visit China before the Spring Festival, and promised that he would resolutely pursue the one-China principle during his administration.
At the same time, the deputy speaker of the Slovak parliament, Luboš Braha, also came forward to reverse the previous government's sanctions against Russia, saying that Russia should not be regarded as an enemy, and at the same time supporting the normalization of relations with Russia. Now, the EU as a whole must keep pace with the United States and distance itself from China and Russia, and in this case, it certainly does not want more EU countries to get closer to China and Russia, otherwise it will be more difficult for them to implement their decrees in the future, unless Brussels has the ability to control the policies of these countries.
(Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban)
And Fizo's approach is also reminiscent of another friend of ours in the EU, that is, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In the eyes of the EU, Orban plays the role of a "thorn in the head", criticizing various EU policies for a long time, and singing the opposite tone on the issue of aid to Ukraine. Most crucially, Orban has maintained friendly relations with both China and Russia. During the new crown epidemic, Orban chose to be vaccinated against China, and when the EU introduced policies to contain China, Orban also spoke out many times.
Of course, it is precisely because of Hungary's friendship with Russia and Ukraine that it has gained many opportunities for cooperation. Last year, CATL, China's largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, announced that it would spend 7.34 billion euros to build a factory in Hungary, which could be the largest battery plant in Europe if completed. The Hungarian side said it would be the largest investment in the country's history. Some foreign media sourly said that Hungary received this investment because it was "pro-China", but they pricked up their ears and were highly concerned about the investment trends of Chinese enterprises.
As the first country in Europe to sign a memorandum of understanding on "Belt and Road" cooperation with China, Hungary has also given many preferential policies to Chinese enterprises to invest, coupled with its superior geographical location, in fact, it is completely mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation. In addition, at a time when the whole of Europe is experiencing energy pains due to the cut off of Russian energy, Hungary has relied on its friendly relations with Russia in exchange for cheaper natural gas supplies than before, and it is still overdelivered.
[Slovakia is very well developed in automobile manufacturing]
In fact, when Fizzo first came to power, Orban welcomed the return of this old friend, believing that it is always good to be able to work with this patriot. Therefore, Fizo's government should also choose to continue to move closer to China and Russia and become the next Orban. As we said earlier, Fizo wants to think more about his own people. Prior to this, although China had some investment projects in Slovakia, mainly focused on batteries and green energy, the scale was not very large.
As a member of the European Union, Slovakia is still in a relatively weak and marginalized position, and its level of economic development is not as high as that of other EU member states. In particular, 2020 was severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, with economic growth of -4.1%, unemployment of 16.3%, and poverty of 17.5%. The economic recovery was not achieved until the first quarter of last year, but there are still constraints such as supply chain challenges and high inflation.
At present, the automobile industry is the pillar industry of Slovakia, is the world's largest per capita automobile production country, its unique geographical location makes it a European automobile production center and a major country in the European supplier network, and many famous automobile groups in the world have entered Slovakia to build factories. China's auto brands are currently facing the dilemma of going global. If China and Slovakia want to engage in trade, it is definitely a good thing for mutual benefit and win-win. With many friends and many paths, Orban will no longer be alone in the future, and I look forward to Fizo's visit to China to bring us more opportunities for cooperation.