Slovakia lawmakers approve defense military treaty with US

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s parliament on Wednesday approved a defense military treaty with the United States.

The Defense Cooperation Agreement passed 79-60 in the 150-seat legislature in a vote split between lawmakers from the four-party ruling coalition and the opposition.

The treaty allows the U.S. military to use two Slovak air force bases — Malacky-Kuchyna and Sliac — for 10 years while Slovakia — a NATO member — will receive $100 million from the U.S. to modernize them.

The deal was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Slovakia’s defense minister, Jaroslav Nad, on Feb. 3 in Washington. It still needs to be ratified by President Zuzana Caputova, who supports it.



Thousands of Slovaks rally to protest a defense military treaty between this NATO member and the United States, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. Waving national flags, the protesters gathered in front of the Parliament that was debating the Defense Cooperation Agreement. (Pavol Zachar/TASR via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-slovakia-bratislava-07dfd58fd47d672db840eb37583d8376

[OnDoutside]

1. Excellent !

[sprinkleeninow]

2. 👍

[lastlib]

3. I presume it needs to be approved by the Senate

And I presume it will be ooposed by MoscowMitch, and probly Rand Paul, RonJohnson, and a few others in the Muscovite caucus.

[Igel]

7. My reading says it's an agreement, not an actual treaty.

There are similar agreements with other NATO countries, but I don't recall them being the subject of Senate ratification.

Here's a link from 2019. https://sk.usembassy.gov/defense-cooperation-stronger-together/


And a similar agreement with Poland. It entered into force soon after being ratified by Poland, but I can't find anything on line that says the US Senate touched it.

Reporters are sometimes sloppy, or maybe the agreements have a different status under Slovak (or Polish) law.

[henbuck]

4. I don't understand why any Slovaks would be against this.

It makes them safer and adds money to the economy.

[Ray Bruns]

5. You would have to ask Vlad about that. I am sure he has his fingers in this somehow

[Happy Hoosier]

6. Presumably there is a nationalist movement....

and 100% Putin is stoking it.