"I did not come to rule, I came to serve the citizens, the inhabitants, Slovakia," said Zuzana Čaputová, the new Slovak president in her speech. She mentioned that she considers her role as a responsibility to carry out her formal duties but also a responsibility for something more fragile - trust. "The trust of citizens in us, the people that they have elected, trust in institutions, in rules that are valid equally for all, trust in Slovakia, trust in the homeland." The new president presented her goal to contribute to constructive cooperation, to offer a calm and factual tone, the necessary patience and promised to try to get over personal attacks and remember that I am not here to engage in conflict.
The new president summed up some of the Slovakia's biggest successes - the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia, carrying out drastic reforms, which initially led to a 19% unemployment rate in early 2000 and later brought economic growth, erasing the gap behind other post communist countries and becoming part of EU, NATO, Schengen and Eurozone and the recent adoption of anti-shell companies law.
"Throughout our history, we have many times fallen victim to superpower politics, we had been included in empires where decisions about us were made without us. Our EU and NATO membership is our free choice. The fact that we are a part of the union is not just a matter of our prosperity, it is also an important contribution to our national sovereignty," said the new president.
According to Čaputová, responding to climate change is an opportunity for everyone to be real patriots, regardless of politics or party preferences."The World Bank estimates that by 2050, if the trend does not change, climate changes might force up to 143 million people from their homes. We need to slow down and reverse the process of global climate change, otherwise it might have serious consequences for Slovakia."
Čaputová reminded us in her speech that Slovak history is full of struggles. "Each of these struggles contributed to a better Slovakia and was accompanied by positive patriotism and the awakening of society. Today we are witnessing yet another awakening of society - political, civil, but also the inconspicuous and hardly visible silent majority. The road to the best possible Slovakia does not lead through any pleasant shortcuts, however. We always need to be sincere about that, even at a moment such as this. If we want to make it, we need to walk the whole road honestly, step by step, like citizens, like inhabitants, like a community," said the newly appointed president. She concluded that she wishes to be the president of the people who are walking down that road now, but also of those who have yet to join and thanked all Slovak citizens in five languages - Slovak, Hungarian, Ruthenian, Czech and Roma, thus acknowledging the largest Slovak minorities.
