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After Trump Meeting, Slovak PM Fico Says 'EU Is Not Taken Seriously' By World Leaders Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said the European Union is “not taken completely seriously” by world leaders because of its “suicidal migration policy” and “nonsense climate goals,” after a phone call on Monday with German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz. According to the government’s press office, cited by the TASR news agency, Fico told Merz that he would send an open letter on Tuesday to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and circulate it to all EU prime ministers and heads of state, in which he would express concerns relayed to him following a meeting with U.S. President Trump at the weekend and offer solutions. “I have proposed several solutions to the Federal Chancellor, and I hope that he will visit Slovakia soon, as he promised. We have something to talk about,” Fico said. He added that several hundred German companies operate in Slovakia and that the Slovak economy is particularly dependent on German economic development because of the high concentration of car production. Fico said he and Merz discussed the current “serious international situation,” including the escalating transatlantic tensions over the future of Greenland, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. He told the German chancellor about his conversation over the weekend with U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. “The U.S. president is clearly pursuing the nation-state interests of the U.S. If the EU had acted this way, we would be in a completely different place than we are now,” Fico said, again arguing that the European Union is not taken seriously on the world stage. 🇺🇸🇪🇺 EPIC phone call between Slovakia's PM Fico with Germany's Merz, after Fico met Trump. PERFECTLY sums up the situation between the U.S. and the EU regarding Greendland Prime Minister Fico: - "The President of the United States is clearly pursuing the nation state interests… pic.twitter.com/aXFOa6wcXL — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 19, 2026 The Slovak government described the Fico-Trump meeting as informal and a sign of respect and trust. The talks covered the war in Ukraine, the European Union, and bilateral relations, and were attended by U.S. and Slovak foreign ministers Marco Rubio and Juraj Blanár. On Ukraine, Fico said he reiterated his long-held positions to the American president. “All my positions are well-known, and I repeat them in the same wording at every meeting,” he said, declaring “Slovakia’s peaceful position and the opinion that diplomacy and mutual listening must take precedence over military solutions.” According to Fico, he and Trump shared the view of the European Union as “an institution in deep crisis” in relation to its competitiveness as well as its energy and migration policies. They also discussed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy, ceremonially signed in Washington before the Florida meeting. “Both countries are fully aware that solving serious energy challenges is not possible through wind turbines or photovoltaics, but that the basis for the future is the rapid development of nuclear energy,” Fico said. THE TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES AND TALKS WITH PRESIDENT D. TRUMP WERE SOVEREIGN, CONFIDENT, AND EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT FOR SLOVAKIA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ENERGY SECURITY. I understand that anti-Slovak media and the opposition are being torn apart by envy and hatred. I have… pic.twitter.com/7rjoxPWLIR — Robert Fico 🇸🇰 (@RobertFicoSVK) January 18, 2026 Fico also said he presented Trump with a Slovak postage stamp depicting a U.S. Marine Corps soldier of Slovak origin, Michal Strank, noting that a photograph of Strank raising the American flag on Iwo Jima in February 1945 later became the model for a major military monument at Arlington National Cemetery. “The trip to the USA was our next…

De Beers Cuts Diamond Prices, Botswana Warns Of Prolonged Slump De Beers, the world's largest diamond mining company, has warned of a prolonged downturn in the gem industry after cutting prices for the first time since 2024. Botswana is the epicenter of De Beers' diamond production, and declining output alongside falling prices is set to put significant pressure on the southern African nation's finances. On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that De Beers cut its diamond prices for the first time in over a year, abandoning efforts to prop up the market amid faltering demand. A combination of soft Chinese luxury spending, expanding market share for lab-grown stones, and added pressure from US tariffs on India has pressured the world's largest diamond exporter. The Diamond Standard Index, a benchmark price measure for investment-grade natural diamonds, has fallen by more than half since peaking in early 2022. The index is now at a record low, with data going back to 2002. As for Botswana, the Finance Ministry warned that diamond income could fall to 10.3 billion pula ($744 million) in FY2025-26, less than half the historical average of 25.3 billion pula, and that revenues may never fully recover. "The recovery in mineral revenue is expected to be prolonged," the Finance Ministry wrote in a report ahead of the annual budget next month. "The shortfall is likely to persist over the medium to long term with a possibility of a non-recovery." Bloomberg wasn't clear about the size of the price discount De Beers offered buyers for diamonds. Tyler Durden Wed, 01/21/2026 - 05:45