Blanar: New Czech Government Cares about Building Relations with Slovakia

Bratislava, 17 December (TASR) - Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar has said the new Czech government cares about building relations with Slovakia, and he described Tuesday's visit by Czech head of diplomacy Petr Macinka as a clear message, as he came to Bratislava just one day after being appointed as minister, TASR reported on Wednesday. Macinka declared that he wants to pick up where cooperation between the countries left off. Nonetheless, he added that the Czech Republic will always have its own views and will promote them regardless of Slovakia's opinions. The head of Czech diplomacy explained that he travelled to Slovakia so early because he's heading to Brussels on Wednesday and that there was no way that he would have wanted his first trip in office to take him somewhere else than Slovakia. "I felt sad that relations between the Czech and Slovak governments had cooled somewhat in past years, mostly due to the Czech initiative. But in Czech society, I have always felt that nothing like that happened among the people," said Macinka. "I'm truly pleased that this disharmony has now been removed. We'll be happy to cooperate, and we'll pick up where cooperation stopped," he added. Asked whether the Czech Republic will also pursue a policy oriented in all four cardinal directions, Macinka didn't respond directly, merely saying that his country's priority will be to place much greater emphasis on relations with its closest neighbours, strengthen the Czech representation's self-confidence within the EU, while also refocusing on diplomacy rather than PR. Blanar responded by saying that EU countries are sovereign states, and it's their duty to promote national interests. "I'm pleased that the Czech government equally realises that Czech priorities come first," he added. Their discussion also revolved around the ETS2 emissions trading system and the planned end of sales of internal combustion engine vehicles. They both supported "a rational approach to climate policy so that it doesn't weaken the competitiveness of our automotive industries". They also spoke about the need to set EU migration and asylum policy in a more realistic manner and jointly disagreed with the recently adopted Pact on Migration and Asylum. Macinka was also asked whether the Czech Republic will align itself with Slovakia's views on the war in Ukraine or anti-Russian sanctions. He said that the Czech government will promote the Czech position regardless of the views of Slovakia or other countries. According to Blanar, the Slovak government shared, in 95 percent of cases, the same views on Ukraine even with the previous Czech government led by Petr Fiala, differing only on how the war should be resolved. "We've been saying right from the start that the war has no military solution, while the previous Czech government felt that it could be resolved by military means. We promoted a peaceful solution ... the Ukrainians understood this and held joint talks with us three times, but Mr Fiala's government cancelled joint meetings of our governments," said Blanar. The new head of Czech diplomacy announced that Prime Minister Andrej Babis will soon travel to Slovakia on his first official foreign visit, describing it as a "major trip", although he didn't elaborate further. Macinka also invited Blanar to visit Prague. jrg/df