According to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Juraj Blanár, the new Czech government is interested in building relations with Slovakia. According to him, a clear message is the visit of the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Macinka, to Bratislava on Tuesday, where he arrived the very next day after his appointment to the position.
Macinka stated that he wants to continue where the countries stopped cooperating. At the same time, however, he noted that the Czech Republic will always have its own opinion, which it will promote regardless of Slovakia's opinion. The head of Czech diplomacy explained that he made the trip to Slovakia so soon after his appointment because he is traveling to Brussels on Wednesday and under no circumstances did he want his first trip in office to lead anywhere other than to the Slovak Republic.
"I have been troubled in recent years by the fact that relations between the Czech and Slovak governments have cooled somewhat, rather at the initiative of the Czech government. In Czech society, I have always felt that nothing like this has happened between people... I am truly glad that this discrepancy has now been eliminated. We will be happy to cooperate and continue where cooperation left off," said Macinka.
Within the framework of the European agenda, both diplomats agreed on several key issues, primarily the need to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU and protect European industry. Regional cooperation was also an important topic. The Ministers stated that the Visegrad Group (V4) remains an important and proven format that continues to have the potential to strengthen the voice of Central European countries within the EU.
When asked whether the Czech Republic will also promote a policy on the four cardinal points, Macinka did not answer directly. He only stated that the priority of the Czech government would be to place much greater emphasis on relations with its closest neighbors, to strengthen the self-confidence of the Czech representation in the EU field and to return more to diplomacy and limit PR.
To this, Blanár responded that EU countries are still sovereign states and it is their duty to promote national interests. “I am pleased that the Czech government is also aware that the priorities of the Czech Republic come first,” he added.
When asked whether the Czech Republic would support the Slovak opinion on the war in Ukraine, support for Kyiv or anti-Russian sanctions, Macinka responded that the Czech government would promote the Czech opinion regardless of the opinion of the Slovak Republic or other countries. According to Blanár, the Slovak government had 95 percent of the same opinions on the conflict in Ukraine as the cabinet of Petr Fiala, and they differed only in how to resolve the war.
The new head of Czech diplomacy announced that Prime Minister Andrej Babiš would soon travel to Slovakia for his first official foreign visit. It would be a "big trip", he said, but he did not want to provide further details.
Source: TASR
