Slovak President receives Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland

The President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič received Bronisław Komorowski, Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, on 1 December 2008. At the meeting, the Slovak President expressed appreciation of intensive bilateral exchange between Slovakia and Poland at all levels – one that brings about good economic, cultural and regional cooperation.

In particular, the speaker of the Sejm welcomed long-term continuity in the cooperation between both countries. He told Gašparovič about his talks with the Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, noting that Poland was keen to sign a treaty on above-standard relations with the Slovak Parliament in the same vein as the treaties with Ukraine and the German Bundestag.
“I think we are literally bound to cooperate,” Ivan Gašparovič said during the meeting. “Both the past and the future of our countries refer to inevitability of cooperation between Slovakia and Poland,” the President noted.

Ivan Gašparovič and Bronisław Komorowski also touched upon the current issues in European politics and the global financial crisis. “It will affect Slovakia as well, but I do not expect any disaster,” the Slovak President said. In his opinion, we already managed to get through the financial crisis, but we are still to face the economic crisis. “Compared to Poland, our position is better to a certain extent, because we are due to adopt the euro currency as of 1 January,” the President said, expressing appreciation that “the government took very responsible steps from the very beginning.”

Even though the financial crisis impacts on Slovakia are not as apparent as is the case with several other EU countries, the Slovak President thinks that, bearing in mind the severity and extent of the crisis, it is necessary to support coordinated reaction at the EU level. In this context, both representatives agreed the state must inevitably play the role of the monitoring and control system.

According to Bronisław Komorowski, it was with admiration and interest that the Republic of Poland registered Slovakia’s decision to be the first Visegrad Four country to adopt the European currency. “I believe that this decision turns out to be a good one,” the Polish representative concluded.