Slovak President Andrej Kiska travelled to Prague, on his first official bilateral foreign visit to the Czech Republic since taking office three weeks ago. In Prague he was received by the Czech head of state Milos Zeman, Speaker of the Czech Senate Milan Stech and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.
In their discussions, the Slovak and Czech Presidents agreed that the relations of the two countries are excellent. However, according to both of them, Slovaks and Czechs must work more on better road connections, and should also cooperate in defence, education, and health care. Czech President Zeman proposed to Slovak President Kiska to jointly combat the European Commission’s plans to increase the share of renewables in the EU of 27 percent. “I think since the energy mix is very similar in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, so we should fight together for a reduction in that percentage,” Zeman concluded.
Czech President Milos Zeman told President Kiska that Slovakia is an inspiration to the Czech Republic when it comes to the introduction of the euro. However, he claims, Czechs have the fear of the unknown when it comes to the euro, and hopes that their country will introduce the euro soon. The discussion of the two president’s also swirled around the proposal of the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, intending to re-introduce the ‘Made in Czechoslovakia’ label as according to him, the break-up of Czechoslovakia still hasn’t been noticed in some regions of the world. Slovak President Andrej Kiska stated that the ‘Made in Czechoslovakia’ label belongs to the past and that the two countries should build their own ‘Made in Slovakia’ and ‘Made in the Czech Republic’ brands. Slovak President Kiska also noted that Slovakia and the Czech Republic are competitors in regard to the inflow of foreign investments, which however, doesn’t prevent good bilateral co-operation. He also welcomed some of the joint ‘Czechoslovak’ investments.
