PRAGUE – Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský has sounded the alarm over alleged surveillance and political intimidation by Slovak authorities during a recent European Parliament fact-finding mission.
In a letter sent to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Tuesday, the centre-right MEP described “troubling indications” that the official delegation he led tasked – with monitoring the use of EU funds in Slovakia – had been deliberately monitored.
“What is especially alarming is that during an evening meeting with whistleblowers – including individuals from Slovak security services – we had strong reasons to believe that our activities were being deliberately monitored,” Zdechovský wrote in a letter read by Euractiv Czechia.
“Such actions are unacceptable and contradict the principles of cooperation between Member States and EU institutions.”
He also highlighted public statements made by senior Slovak officials, including Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok and Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba, who criticised the EP mission in what Zdechovský described as politically charged efforts to discredit the delegation.
The most incendiary attack, he said, came from Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who recently labelled him a “political assassin”.
Fico repeatedly launched verbal attacks on Zdechovský. “If one more time a situation like this arises where an MEP like Mr Zdechovský comes to Slovakia and does this dirty opposition work like a hitman, we will ask him to leave the territory of the Slovak Republic. What he has done is beyond any decent behaviour,” Fico told journalists.
Zdechovský views the Slovak Prime Minister’s remarks as an attempt to delegitimise the mission and its findings.
The Czech MEP has urged Metsola to raise the matter with the European Parliament’s leadership and consider possible measures against the Slovak government.
“I respectfully urge you to uphold the integrity and independence of our parliamentary missions,” he wrote, warning that such interference is particularly dangerous” at a time when authoritarian tendencies are on the rise in parts of the Union.”