President of the Slovak Republic on a Working Visit to the Federal Republic of Germany

On 9 – 10 July 2006, President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič visited the Federal Republic of Germany.

He met with President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Köhler. During their talks, President Ivan Gašparovič highlighted the excellent organization of the 2006 Football World Championship the final match of which the Slovak President attended, being personally invited by his German counterpart.

The Slovak and German Presidents talked also about the post-election situation in Slovakia. The Slovak President assured the German President about the constancy of the Slovak foreign policy orientation following the appointment of the new Government, as both the elections and the formation of the new Government Cabinet were democratic and standard. Therefore, he marked the doubts of the outside world over a possible negative development in Slovakia as unjustified. “Slovakia will continue on the basis of principles of the Slovak Republic membership in the EU and NATO, and the new Foreign Minister, Ján Kubiš, is a warranty of this.”

In addition, the President of the Slovak Republic emphasized the continuity of the reform process which will certainly be completed by the new Government. The reforms that hit a snag, in particular the reform of health care, will need some adjusting. The President of the Slovak Republic underlined that no deterioration in the position of the ethnic minorities would take place, even though the Hungarian minority had lost its position in the Government. On the contrary, President Ivan Gašparovič expects improvements in, for example, financing activities in favour of ethnic minorities, including the Carpathian Germans living in Slovakia.

Slovakia has won a credit of a successful, trustworthy country, and President Gašparovič believes that “in spite of initial negative responses to the new Government, the credit of Slovakia will not turn for the worse”. Then the President of the Slovak Republic said that he would serve as a guarantee of the democratic development in the country. He disapproved of the opinion of some Euro-deputies who propose to do monitoring of Slovakia, and he denounced the efforts of the coalition to raise fear of the new Government.

German Federal President Köhler confirmed the interest of the German party in intensifying cooperation with the new EU member states. In connection with Slovakia, he pointed out the situation in Austria after the 1998 elections, when the EU had rather insensitively intervened in the policy of Austria as a response to the new government including Jörg Haider.

The German Federal President added that the European Union should take lesson from this improper procedure. According to President Köhler, Slovakia has taken a huge step in the area of reforms. He expressed his wish that Germany take such courageous steps too. As Horst Köhler put it, it is understandable that the new Slovak Government wants to modify the reforms so that they would be more acceptable for the citizens. Regarding coalition parties the Slovak National Party (SNS) and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), he said that some moves from the past raised certain fears abroad, but he highly appreciates the guarantees of President Gašparovič on the consistency of the development in Slovakia. As he declared, he has no doubts that Slovakia is and will remain a democratic and legally consistent state. He spoke about the outcome of the parliamentary elections as a natural response of the citizens to some impacts of the reforms that had made the citizens unsatisfied.

 The talks of the Presidents touched also the topic of the EU future. In their opinions, it requires a wide discussion so that the EU could extend and get stronger.
The program of President Gašparovič in the Federal Republic of Germany included also a meeting with President of the Hessen Parliament Norbert Kartmann, Minister President of Hessen Roland Koch and Mayor of Wiesbaden Hildebrand Diehl.