Slovakia commemorated Europe Day on Monday shortly after its 18th year in the European Union. On this occasion, Prime Minister Eduard Heger declared that a new Europe is being forged on Ukrainian battlefields, "and because we have reasons to look at this with concern, we need to re-embrace the roots, the noble ideals and realistic ideas out of which the European Union was born". Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok stated that the European Union is the best guarantee of peace, stability and prosperity for Slovakia, adding that he considers the EU to be a community of countries based on the values of the rule of law, democracy and freedom. According to the Eurobarometer survey published in April, 76% of Slovaks feel they are citizens of the EU with 35% of the local population viewing it as positive. 38% of Slovaks review the EU in a neutral way. The overall sentiment towards the EU is the same as it was in the previous year. Slovaks find the free movement of people, services and goods the most positive feature of the EU. 17% of Slovaks find peace among the member states to be the most positive benefit of membership. Every year, 9 May is commemorated as Europe Day in memory of the signature of the so called Schuman’s Declaration which set out the idea of a new form of political cooperation in Europe in 1950.
Source: RSI
