Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič Visits the Summit of the V4 Presidents in Budapest and Visegrad

The President of the Slovak Republic, Ivan Gašparovič, delivered a speech at the “Economic Potential and Perspectives of Central Europe” conference held at the Corvinus University in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Presidents of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland also delivered their speeches at this event, held as part of the Summit of the Presidents of the V4 countries marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Visegrad Four group.

Hungarian President Pál Schmitt called for more intensive economic and trade cooperation among the V4 group countries. In his speech, he emphasised that the Republic of Hungary was currently facing a challenging period of complex reform efforts intended to revive the country’s GDP growth and improve the living standards of its citizens. Czech President Václav Klaus described the introduction of a single European currency, the euro, as “an unfortunate victory of politics over economics”. He cautioned the students of the Corvinus University against similar “wrong political steps”. The Czech President noted that “the V4 group is not a bureaucratic organisation, it has no administrative staff, no headquarters, no secretariats ... but for us, it is a useful and broad discussion forum that takes place in the form of annually held presidential summits.” According to Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, the Visegrad Four group has been involved in all significant decisions made by our countries over the past twenty years. In his opinion, political developments that took place at the end of 1980s in Poland, the former Czechoslovakia and Hungary foreshadowed the origins of a brand new form of cooperation. “We know dictatorship, therefore we can better value freedom,” Komorowski said. The strength of our economies, says Komorowski, lies in the fact that, after the collapse of their socialist regimes, the Central European countries had to extremely quickly switch over to a liberal market economy, and “the building of freedom went hand in hand with a successful economic growth.”

The Slovak President said that Central Europe was the most dynamically growing region of the European Union. For instance, the Slovak economy had grown by 35.8% in the first five years since its accession to the EU, or by 7% a year on average, President Gašparovič added. “Its geographic location and the stability of our region as a whole are, in my view, the natural driving forces of the region,” the Slovak President said in his speech. Ivan Gašparovič rounded off his address with the statement that “the Visegrad Four is a good trademark embodying a concentrate of regional wisdom, experience and mutual reliance.”

Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič also held bilateral talks with Hungarian President Pál Schmitt. The Hungarian President touched upon the issue of dual citizenship, assuring the Slovak head of state that similar legislation as that adopted by the Hungary was currently applied in 24 out of the 27 European Union Member States. Pál Schmitt said that Hungary did not understand why people who would acquire Hungarian citizenship should, in return, be deprived of their Slovak citizenship. He further added that Hungary was preparing a new election law which would enable foreign Hungarians who were granted Hungarian citizenship to vote in elections in Hungary. “Dual citizenship is not an issue anywhere in the world. It was not an issue with us either, as long as the principles of international law and practice have been observed,” Ivan Gašparovič responded. He added, however, that he had never encountered such a form of acquiring dual citizenship anywhere in the world as the one currently applicable to foreign Hungarians who wished to acquire Hungarian citizenship. “If the new election law will interfere with an identity of Slovak citizens, it will then be a problem,” the Slovak President said in response to the information presented by the Hungarian host. President Pál Schmitt said he believed that the legislation on dual citizenship would be alleviated on both sides.