Ivan Gašparovič Meets Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

At the beginning of his official visit to the Slovak Republic, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič. When opening their talks, Gašparovič was pleased to note that, shortly after the visit of Hungarian President Pál Schmitt, this country’s Prime Minister visited Slovakia as well. “With such meetings we are sending a very good message of our willingness to consult and discuss together.”

President Ivan Gašparovič also expressed his pleasure that during the talks with his Hungarian counterpart Pál Schmitt they had found common ground as regards inevitable insight into the future of our nations in a united Europe. “In our relations, we should not be looking back into the past and direct our steps on a purely ethnic basis,” our highest representative underlined. “The Treaty on Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation between the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Hungary is a good agreement and we should rely on the principles it contains,” the Slovak head of state stressed.

The fact that our relations are positive is also evidenced by the quality of economic cooperation and trade which surpassed the EUR 4.5 billion mark. “I am glad that you and the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic are going to sign an agreement on the common north-south gas connection today,” the President said. He added that the road connection between Košice and Miskolc, as well as bridges over the Ipeľ river, should be completed as well.

During his meeting with Viktor Orbán, Ivan Gašparovič reiterated Slovakia’s “absolute support to the Hungarian presidency of the EU, because if your presidency fails, it will also be our failure and, vice versa, your success will also be our success.” Since Poland is scheduled to take over the presidency of the EU after Hungary, Ivan Gašparovič said that “this year will be the year of the central European region and of the Visegrad Four”.

During the discussion with the Slovak head of state, Prime Minister Orbán said he was pleased with the tone Ivan Gašparovič had set to open the talks in the Presidential Palace. “There are problems we would address differently, but I agree that they should be dealt with by joint intergovernmental expert committees,” Orbán said. He added that he would be pleased to see Slovak-Hungarian relations capitalise on joint successes. “We need more economic successes, we need to improve motorway connection, we need to improve cross-border cooperation and we need to create more jobs,” the Hungarian Prime Minister emphasised.

Gašparovič’s reaction was that “only positive cooperation will guide us to success”. We in Slovakia have a positive attitude towards all the thirteen national minorities. With their culture and language, minorities enrich the entire Slovak society.”

The President assured the Hungarian Prime Minister that the Slovak State Language Act did not jeopardise in any way the use of Hungarian language by members of the national minority and that it did not impose any sanctions on individuals. According to Gašparovič, the Language Act is not aimed at creating constraints for the Hungarian language, but instead it requires a bilingual approach, that is, information also provided in the state language.

Concerning the issue of minorities, Viktor Orbán stressed during the meeting with the Slovak head of state that “We in Hungary consider the Slovak minority to be an equal part of our society with all civil rights.”

The President of the Slovak Republic and his Hungarian guest also discussed cooperation of both countries within the Visegrad group. According to Ivan Gašparovič, this regional alliance is an excellent platform for promoting central European interests on the EU level.