Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that the referendum on the country joining the EU would not have succeeded if its results had not been falsified.
However, the head of the Slovak government provided no details or evidence to support his claim, European Pravda reports.
The statement was made at the opening of the “School of Social Democracy”, organised by the Smer party. According to Fico, the results of the vote on joining the EU were so close that the authorities allegedly made certain adjustments to secure the expected outcome, after which the Slovak Republic was allowed to join the organisation.
At the time of the referendum, Smer was in opposition, but supported EU accession. Fico noted that if the opposition at the time, including Smer and Mečiar, had not urged people to vote for the European Union, the referendum would have failed.
- The referendum on joining the EU in Slovakia took place in May 2003, with turnout at 52.15%. 94% of Slovaks voted in favour of Slovakia joining the bloc.