Slovak-US ties: Carrots, sticks and visa politics.

(From The Slovak Spectator)

Byline: Martina Jurinova Spectator staff

Slovak leaders sharpen rhetoric while backing off on military plans PRIME Minister Robert Ficos socialist cabinet may differ from its right-wing predecessor on most issues, but on one question it remains in step the need to get rid of the visa duty for Slovaks travelling to the US.

Nevertheless, Fico cabinet officials like their counterparts across Europe have been growing increasingly impatient with the slow pace of progress in getting rid of visas for all EU members, and feel the US Congress is dragging its feet.

Foreign Minister Jan KubiS said after returning from a late-September visit to the US, where he held talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other US officials, that dropping the visa duty for Slovaks and the citizens of other new EU member states was merely a matter of "making a political decision".

"This is a political, not a technical question, and therefore it should be resolved by politicians," KubiS said.

"We dont think there are any technical criteria that we should have to meet.