Fico called his statement about von der Leyen's criticism a joke.

On March 31, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico called a joke his words that the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen scolded him and called him a "complete idiot."

"I hope that the EC president understood the joke at today's press conference when I told reporters that she scolded me terribly for not doing anything, as the Slovak opposition claims, to prevent the United States from imposing new tariffs against the whole world," he wrote on Facebook (owned by Meta, activity which is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation).

The Slovak Prime Minister expressed concern that the local media and the opposition had misunderstood the joke.

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At a press conference on March 31, Fico said that von der Leyen had chastised him for negotiating with US President Donald Trump. He clarified that the head of the EC scolded him for half an hour and called him a "complete idiot."