Slovak President Receives Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates

Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič received José Sócrates, the Prime Minister of the Portuguese Republic. He praised the good quality of Slovakia’s and Portugal’s relations which, the Slovak President says, is also shown by frequent meetings of the top political representatives of the two countries.

According to Ivan Gašparovič, the Slovak Republic still keeps moving along the path of complying with the democratic principles in line with its membership in the European Union and NATO. “A year since the election the Government have proven they want to maintain continuity and follow-up on the positives of the reforms launched by their predecessors. On the other hand, the Government is attempting to correct those reforms which the citizens view as having negative impacts,” the Slovak President said.

The Portuguese Prime Minister said he supported the enlargement of the Schengen area with new EU Member States, including Slovakia. The Kosovo issue is a very serious problem, according to José Sócrates. Ivan Gašparovič said Slovakia would in no case oppose a uniform EU decision on the status of Kosovo but he emphasised that Europe and the international community should also take an equally responsible approach to Serbia.

Speaking about the EU constitutional treaty, José Sócrates noted that the future of the document lay in a compromise. Therefore he expressed his firm belief that the EU members would address this issue in a responsible manner. In Ivan Gašparovič’s opinion, the European Union failed to effectively utilise the so-called “reflection” period in order to find the optimum foundations for a new treaty which would replace this document.

The new agenda should not omit the definition of the position of national parliaments in relation to the European Parliament, he added. The Portuguese Prime Minister stressed that the compromise solution had to be based on the treaty signed by the EU representatives in Rome.