President of the Slovak Republic Talked to German Chancellor Angel Merkel

President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič met with Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel during her official visit to the Slovak Republic. During the talks, the Slovak President underlined the importance of the political and economic partnership of the two countries.

President Ivan Gašparovič gave assurance to Chancellor Merkel that the Slovak Republic would continue with the orientation of the foreign policy the Slovak Republic has embarked on. In addition, he stated the wish of all relevant political entities to preserve the position of the Slovak Republic on the international stage. Then President Ivan Gašparovič assured Chancellor Merkel that any government arising from the upcoming parliamentary elections would have to maintain the continuity of the reform policy.

As Angela Merkel put it, the mutual bilateral relations of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Slovak Republic are very good. She spoke about Slovakia as a very constructive partner within the EU. She appreciated the reform process in Slovakia and was interested in the opinion of the Slovak head of state of the Constitution for Europe, as in both countries motions have been filed with the constitutional court regarding the adoption of the European Constitutional Treaty.

President Ivan Gašparovič said that in his opinion the Treaty should be ratified, even though he does not consider its contents perfect. Nevertheless, he thinks that the Treaty drafted in this way does not correspond to the Constitution in terms of its contents or formal aspects. Ivan Gašparovič said that he was convinced about the need of a new flexible document on the basis of which the EU could further exist and extend. According to him, the major problem is the position of national parliaments to the European Parliament.

Chancellor Merkel said that in Germany also there were a lot of discussions regarding the position of deputies of the national parliament to the European Parliament. Both, the Slovak President and the German Chancellor agreed that the discussion on competencies of the European Constitution could only be beneficial. President Ivan Gašparovič showed his interest in the Chancellor’s opinion of the threat of the EU to suspend the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU, as well as her opinion of the integration of the Republic of Croatia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded that a proposal would be made regarding the entry of the two countries into the EU as of 1 January 2007, conditioned by some requirements. She added, however, that as far as Croatia is concerned the conditions should be different from those applied to Turkey.