President Ivan Gašparovič attended the summit of Central European Presidents held in Novi Sad, Serbia. In his speech Gašparovič said the gas crisis demonstrated the existence of solidarity among the members of the EU. He thinks it is necessary that we do our best to prevent another situation such as that in January 2009. Slovakia was particularly badly hit by the gas crisis, which damaged both the economy of the country and its population. “Europe’s energy security is hence our priority,” Gašparovič said.“ From our perspective, what it needs now is a concerted action in the drafting and implementation of the energy policy. Concerted action can be taken on both the pan-European as well as regional scale,” the Slovak President added.

According to the Head of State, Slovakia supports diversification of resources and transmission routes. The Slovak Republic welcomes any effort aimed at strengthening energy security, and it suggests that cooperation among the Central European countries in the energy industry be intensified.

Also at the summit, Ivan Gašparovič expressed support for EU enlargement. “Ever since the beginning the Slovak Republic has been supportive of enlarging the EU with the Western Balkans countries, because this will contribute to fostering stability in the regional and global political arena,” Slovak President said.

“It may appear that enlargement is not a priority issue for the EU at the moment. It may seem as if the integration of Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina has slowed down,” the Slovak President added. However, he thinks we ought not to succumb to such sentiments and we must continue to support enlargement of the EU. Ivan Gašparovič is convinced that “the larger the EU is, the stronger it will be.

Of course, the new countries must meet the conditions of admission, but on the other hand I think the Member States’ leaders should be helping the candidate countries more.” According to the President, the interest in new candidate countries may stimulate their proactive and positive attitude towards the EU.

Ivan Gašparovič thinks that, to a certain extent, the EU has put itself on the sidelines by failing to adopt its Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty. “The European Union needs to quickly work out what to do with the Lisbon Treaty, otherwise it should seek a new solution. There is no use in putting it off endlessly and remaining in uncertainty,” Slovakia’s President said during the summit.