New Year’s Address by the President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič, 1. 1. 2010

Dear fellow citizens,

The New Year has arrived, along with new wishes, desires and resolutions. Surely you expect me to evaluate the past year in a couple of sentences and point out important issues and events that lie ahead for our society in 2010. The past year was not free of troubles, and not only due to the crisis.

We also received some good news. We were successful in replacing the Slovak koruna with the single European currency, the euro. We ratified the Treaty of Lisbon. We also managed to facilitate the building of road infrastructure and energy self-sufficiency, in addition to bringing local governance closer to citizens. However, we failed to give an impetus, the right direction and speed to lifelong learning and scientific and cultural development – it means to spiritual values of our society.

We commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, as well as the ideals shared by the people who had gathered in the streets and squares of our towns and cities back then. It is also due to them that we can now enjoy more freedom. It is also due to them that we can choose today who will receive our vote in order to represent us and govern public affairs on our behalf. Elections give us an opportunity to freely express our opinions of society, its politics and people’s needs. We should not underrate it.

Indeed, we also have a political system; however, it has been more convenient for political parties than citizens. We have a market-based economy, but we have a large number of unemployed as well. We have an ambitious social policy, but there is a considerable population of homeless, too. We invest a lot of money in education and healthcare, yet we are far from being content with the level of knowledge and health conditions of our citizens.

From what I have already said, we can see that there is much work to do and obligations to meet this year. Therefore, I appreciate an initiative of Slovak bishops who have encouraged us to have more solidarity, especially in these festive days. We have to help each other. The state must help its citizens, and vice-versa. Solidarity is an asset for all of us, both for those who receive and those who give.

It is particularly important right at this moment, at the time of the global economic crisis. The crisis hit without mercy, especially the weaker and the weakest. But to surrender, to give up our fight for a dignified place under the sun - such an idea should never cross our mind, not even if worse comes to worst. Thank God it has not gone that far yet.

I have recently read an interesting essay that says we are living in new and strange times. Unfortunately, it is a time of lonely hearts. Interpersonal relationships are what the past decades have eroded the most. I am not surprised at all; it is money that has ensnared us - money that has become the greatest value in our times, the master of everything and everyone.

Today, money mostly humiliates us. It makes us servants of others’ interests. There is no better proof for this than the ongoing global crisis. Seeing people in pursuit of profits and luxury to the detriment of all the others is not nice. It is equally immoral in terms of universal human values, the utmost of which is the dignity of an individual. All of us understand that success is also measured in money. But are we capable of measuring the benefits and needs in a fair and responsible way?! If the world desires to resolve the situation that finances dragged us into, we will have to focus, first of all, on eliminating the recurring moral failures of our civilisation.

Yes indeed, we will have to get rid of such afflictions. All of us know what is good and what is bad. We must return to the fundamental universal moral values that have been typical of, and binding upon, us, the people, throughout the entirety of our history. I am sure that we will then refrain from acting in a way harmful to health, the environment, social welfare, education and cultured manners.

Slovak people have always had recourse to common sense when things get rough. You too, my dear fellow citizens, often appeal to common sense in our meetings. And you have the right to do so. You disapprove of political skirmish, injustice, lies, defamation, fraud, and harm to the innocent. I wish to assure all of you that we disapprove of it with you.

Dear fellow citizens,

During the Christmas holidays, I have realised again that the most beautiful moments of our lives are, and will always be, those associated with the peace and joy in our families; that the most precious thing life can give us is life itself. Yes, it is our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren; family, friends and all of our closest relatives. I have also realised that the dearest Christmas gift is the time we may spend together.

Just take a brief look around and ask yourself who you miss. Who is gone for good, where a place is left vacant, but who we would wish to see there is someone who was so dear to us. And we would listen to what they wanted to tell us, but their time had run out. Therefore, I have one question, a question that I also ask myself: how much time do we spend with our dearest?

We waste too much time in pursuit of material possessions, running from store to store, because we do not have this and still need that, and afterwards we drop into a chair, sink into a sofa and, perhaps, watch TV. Where are our intimate talks? How much of our free time do we spend with the children, our future? Barely a few minutes. Do you wonder about this? I really do. But when I further think upon it, I have to frankly say that even when we are in their company, our mind is wandering somewhere else. Experts on family relations and leisure time have already begun to point out this phenomenon.

I know that we do not have much spare time – it has been somewhat lacking in recent years. We have no time to read a good book, to tell our children fairytales. We are unable to find the time to share our childhood memories with our offspring, to familiarise them with our history, family relations and our life with all of its joys and pains. We cannot find the time to recall our customs and traditions of our culture and arts, to show how we lived, what we longed for, what disappointed us.

We do not live in isolation from the rest of the world. European culture, which all of us have in common, makes us contemplate on whether we are following the right paths, whether we do our best in order not to get lost in Europe. I think we have not lost our way; we know what we want. But we should not forget nor overlook one essential thing – who we are.

I do not think our life is inferior to that of other Europeans. We should not underrate ourselves; we should be more self-confident, resolute and determined. It should help us return to our spiritual values this year, return to ourselves, to all the benefits we have earned on our historical path.

Allow me to repeat my personal motto on this occasion: “Thinking nationally, feeling socially.” I am increasingly more aware of its true meaning and message nowadays. Our life longs for truth, justice, social and legal certainty. Our life that cannot exist without roots, without identity, without its irreplaceable essence which makes us unique both as human beings and nations.

Therefore, I hope we perhaps have the same wish: to put aside hostility and envy and find words of acknowledgment and encouragement for our fellow man. I also have such words of appreciation, regard and gratitude for you on this New Year’s Day, when we commemorate the establishment of the sovereign Slovak Republic, since many of you, or nearly all of you, deserve it.

Dear fellow citizens,

Thank you for every single act of humanity and support you provided to those who are in need of it. Thank you for everything you did for people and thus for our homeland – the Slovak Republic.

I sincerely wish you a plentiful year, full of trust in your own capabilities. I wish you health, luck and God’s blessing. May you have good neighbours, friends and peace in family! May the year 2010 be better, more decent and safer than the previous one! I wish you all the best, dear fellow citizens, the best in hearts and deeds.

Let us all be people of good will!