President Agrees with MEPs That Slovak Diplomacy Should Be More Active

Bratislava, 19 December (TASR) - Slovak diplomacy should be active from the very beginning of the preparation of important international documents or fundamental conclusions, rather than merely being a subsequent consumer that leans toward one side or the other, President Peter Pellegrini concurred with MEPs representing Slovakia in the European Parliament, TASR has learnt from the head of state following his joint meeting with MEPs at the Presidential Palace on Friday. "We agreed that our Slovak diplomacy shouldn't be just diplomacy that waits until a majority opinion is formed and then leans towards it in order to be a good partner. Slovak diplomacy, both within our European representation in Brussels and diplomacy as a whole, should be a co-creator of the individual positions of international institutions," said the president. According to him, the MEPs stated that Slovak diplomacy is in many cases more static and "wait-and-see". The head of state therefore wants to appeal to individual ministers to instruct the experts representing Slovakia around the world. "They mustn't be mere professionals who just do their job there, but ministers and state secretaries must give them political guidance and define priorities with which our officials must work more dynamically and actively than before," he stated. Pellegrini discussed current issues with MEPs, as well as cooperation between the European Commission and the European Parliament. "We discussed that prime ministers are directly elected and responsible for their countries and for managing their national affairs and should have greater power to dictate to the European Commission and set tasks for it to carry out in the coming months. It shouldn't be the other way around, with the European Commission often coming on its own initiative and confronting prime ministers with what individual member states should then do," said the president. The head of state considers it to be important to hold talks with MEPs, as many decisions made by European organisations and bodies have a significant impact on Slovakia. The president is therefore interested in organising meetings at this level twice a year, with the next one scheduled for May 2026. He thanked all the participants for the open debate and praised the fact that many MEPs are able to stand up for national interests on fundamental issues despite the values of their political group. Pellegrini said he was disappointed that only one representative from the strongest party representing Slovakia in the European Parliament - Progressive Slovakia (PS) - attended the joint meeting. "It is their legitimate decision, but I consider it to be a slight show of disrespect for the Presidential Palace, not for me personally," he said. am/df