Fico's government allowed the sale of brown bear meat to the public, which violates EU directives
Viktor Orban and Robert Fico (Photo: MARTIN DIVISEK/EPA)

The government of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has approved a decision to allow the sale of brown bear meat to the public. The permission to shoot the animals, which are protected in the EU, has drawn criticism from opposition politicians, including in the European Parliament, the BBC reports .

The meat sale permit follows a plan approved last month to cull the country's 350 brown bears, almost a quarter of Slovakia's entire population.

Fico explained the decision to shoot the bears by the increase in bear attacks on people. In total, 54 bear attacks were registered in the country from 2000 to 2020. According to rough estimates, the average number of attacks is 10 per year.

The brown bear is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in the EU. Under EU directives, animals of this species can only be killed in exceptional cases, such as when there is a threat to public safety, when there are no other alternatives.

Therefore, Fico's decision caused outrage among both animal rights activists and political circles.

MEP Michal Vězik stressed that thousands of human-bear encounters a year have occurred without incident, so the plan for "the unprecedented destruction of a protected species is absurd."

Vezik called on the European Commission to intervene in the situation.

Fico, along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, have repeatedly violated the principles and values of the European Union, and now a number of member states of the bloc are calling for measures to be taken against the governments of the two countries. In particular, due to the pro-Russian positions of Fico and Orban.

  • On February 13, Fico posted a photo with Putin and called Ukraine and the EU "losers."
  • On March 20, the Prime Minister of Slovakia said that his country could veto new EU sanctions against Russia if they threatened the "peace process" regarding the war in Ukraine.
  • On May 26, Merz announced his intentions to increase pressure on the governments of Hungary and Slovakia, which have pro-Russian positions.