BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) – Slovakia takes over the European Union’s presidency on Friday determined to help reconnect the EU with its citizens and put decision-making back in the hands of Europe’s nations as the bloc reels from Britain’s vote to leave.
Unveiling Slovakia’s plans for the next six months, Prime Minister Robert Fico said the EU’s migration policy does not work and Europe has failed to properly communicate with its citizens.
He said EU heavyweight member states like France, Germany and Italy have run the show for too long, and they should start listening to the countries like Slovakia that have joined the 28-nation EU since 2004.
Slovakia, which split amicably from the Czech Republic in 1993, has a population of 5.4 million – just over 1 percent of the EU population. It is geographically at the heart of Europe, and for the next six months it will be at its political heart, too.
“The crucial decisions on the future of Europe cannot be defined by the decisions of one or two member states, or by the founding member states,” Fico told reporters in Bratislava on the eve of his presidency.