The election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States poses a significant opportunity for bolstering the global standing of the EU, said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Thursday on his way to an informal summit of EU leaders in Malta.

"I think that it should lead us to greater sovereignty of opinions and considerations of how to reinforce Europe in terms of security, but also to form more courageous opinions on certain problems such as Syria, sanctions against Russia and the like. I hope that this will also be part of the discussions at the summit," stated Fico.

Moreover, Fico doesn't mind the fact that Trump is surrounded by eurosceptics. He thinks this new situation will encourage Europe to articulate its own opinions and stances and show that it's a strong union.

The prime minister is also convinced that it should be clearly stated at the informal EU summit in Malta that pursuing regime change in third countries through the use of force and without alternative solutions is dangerous. Therefore, Fico welcomes Donald Trump's new strategy of not using force against foreign regimes without planning ahead for the future. In Malta, the EU leaders should talk about the situation in Libya, as 181,000 migrants have come to Europe from that country in the past year alone.

Zuzana Botíková, Photo: TASR