(16 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bratislava – 16 May 2024
1. Current and President-elect of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova and Peter Pellegrini, arriving
2. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Zuzana Caputova, President of Slovakia:
"We stand here together because we want to send a signal of understanding in this tense situation. Differences of opinion are natural. Even two of us sometimes have different views on some things. But we are both people, politicians, who agree on what is most important for society right now. And that is the need to calm the situation. As a society, we live in a time of many conflicts, but please don’t push them to the level of hatred."
3. Wide of room
4. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Zuzana Caputova, President of Slovakia:
"Last but not least, we want to call on everyone to be responsible. Let us step out of the vicious circle of hatred and mutual accusations. What happened yesterday was an individual act, but the tense atmosphere of hatred was our collective work. Today, we have agreed with the President-elect to jointly invite the leaders of all parliamentary political parties to the presidential palace with the sole aim of calming the situation and rejecting violence."
5. Wide of room
6. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Peter Pellegrini, President-Elect of Slovakia:
"I therefore call on all parties in Slovakia to interrupt or at least significantly reduce their campaign for the European Parliament election the campaign is naturally linked to confrontation. It brings with it standoffs and mutual accusations between politicians, and confrontation is the last thing Slovakia needs at the moment."
7. Wide of room
8. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Peter Pellegrini, President-elect of Slovakia:
"I also firmly believe that none of the politicians will use this tragic event to score political points because the assassination of the Prime Minister and the assassination of democracy should not be an instrument of political fight. On the contrary, if there is anything that the people of Slovakia urgently need today, it is at least basic agreement and unity among the Slovak political representation. And if not consensus, then please at least civilised ways of discussing among each other."
9. End of the news conference, Caputova and Pellegrini leaving
STORYLINE:
Slovak politicians showed a united front on Thursday after the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Outgoing president Zuzana Caputova, a political rival of Fico, said Thursday that the heads of the country’s political parties would meet in an effort to bring calm.
Caputova spoke alongside Peter Pellegrini, a Fico ally who is Slovakia’s president-elect.
Their joint message was a gesture toward reducing the inflamed political tensions that have gripped the country in recent months and an appeal to Slovaks not to give in to political divisions.
"What happened yesterday was an individual act, but the tense atmosphere of hatred was our collective work," she said, urging for reconciliation and an end of polarization in the country.
Fico was in serious but stable condition Thursday, a hospital official said weeks before European elections.
“We want to call on everyone to to be responsible,” Caputova said at the news conference in the capital Bratislava.
Pellegrini condemned the attack and called "on all parties in Slovakia to interrupt or at least significantly reduce their campaign for the European Parliament election."
He added that "the campaign is naturally linked to confrontation…. and confrontation is the last thing Slovakia needs at the moment.”
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