Talks between President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer

President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič met with Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria Alfred Gusenbauer in the Presidential Palace today.

As the Slovak President appreciatively remarked, meetings of top officials of Slovakia and Austria are nothing exceptional, and are typical for their neighbourly atmosphere. According to him, this rule was also satisfied this time as the Austrian Chancellor visited the Slovak Republic as one of the first countries after his taking over the office.

They both stated that the bilateral relations between the two countries are well balanced and friendly. Our economic cooperation is good too. Up to 70 % of the share in the Slovak banking industry is accounted for by Austrian companies. Furthermore, Ivan Gašparovič believes that the construction of freeway connecting Slovakia and Austria will be completed soon.
Alfred Gusenbauer confirmed that Austria keeps intensive working on completing the freeway to Slovakia. It should be opened on 15 November 2007. The cooperation between the airports of Bratislava and Vienna as well as the Slovak and Austria railway companies should also become more intensive. As he said, the aim of the Austrian Government is to get the two countries closer together. Therefore, he also supports the efforts of Slovakia to join the Schengen area.

During their talks, also the Constitutional Treaty for Europe was discussed. According to the Austrian side, as much as possible from the current wording of the Constitution should be kept and included into a new document. For its good functioning, the European Union definitely needs a new document. „I am not fully convinced that the possibility to continue with the ratification process will be successful,” said the Slovak President. He added, however, that he himself would not hamper this process and is ready to sign this document.

Nevertheless, he has some objections to some parts of the Constitution for Europe, especially in that sense that it does not stipulate positions of national parliaments to the European Parliament. Therefore, Ivan Gašparovič is in favour of drafting a new document which would not have a character of constitution, but on the basis of which the rules of the EU’s functioning would be clearly defined for the future, including the rules of the EU enlargement by new member states.

Alfred Gusenbauer thinks that if the issue of the contents of the Constitutional Treaty for Europe were opened, its future adoption would be jeopardized even more. It should, however, corporate two new dimensions, namely a stronger social dimension of Europe, and extension of decision-making based on the majority principle.