Stiplija: Pellegrini stated that Slovakia would never recognize Kosovo

Slovakia has a principled stance on Kosovo that will not change with the newly elected President Peter Pellegrini, Nemanja Todorovic Stiplija, the director of the Center for Contemporary Politics and editor of the European Western Balkans portal, says for Kosovo Online.

"Slovakia's stance on Kosovo has not changed since the day Kosovo declared independence. It has a clear, principled position on Kosovo, which has been upheld by several Slovak governments from different parties. Both Peter Pellegrini and his opponent in the elections, Ivan Korcok, have confirmed in the past that Slovakia would never recognize Kosovo. While he was prime minister, Pellegrini discussed this with then-Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, and Korcok, as the State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, clearly stated that Slovakia would never recognize Kosovo and would never change that decision," Stiplija states.

He notes that Slovakia is a very conservative society, and therefore, the parties supporting presidential candidate Pellegrini, both Direction and Voice, took a populist approach during the election campaign, as is common in Central and Eastern European countries, which yielded some results. During the campaign, Kosovo was not mentioned, while the central theme was the war in Ukraine.

"Slovakia's views, which are very similar to Hungary's views on the war in Ukraine and aid to Ukraine, were the central theme of this campaign. Presidential candidates accused each other, on the one hand, of supporting Russia and, on the other hand, of supporting the West, specifically sending troops to Ukraine, which is not within the president's jurisdiction. Both candidates used mechanisms that are currently popular and sensitive to citizens. However, Slovakia, as a very traditional society, returned to populist and nationalist themes, which Direction and Voice, I can freely say, abused in this campaign," Stiplija says.