Fico: Future Gov't Should Incorporate Slovakia 2040 Vision into its Manifesto

Bratislava, 6 July (TASR) – The Slovakia 2040 Vision, drafted by the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), together with feedback from an ongoing comprehensive peer review of the document, will be presented at a major conference on 1 September before being submitted to the government, Prime Minister Robert Fico told TASR in an interview. Fico said the document will undergo a thorough review during July, including assessments by official international reviewers. "A truly thorough and comprehensive review of the material will take place during July, and we also want to have official reviewers from abroad," the prime minister said. "We want to present the results of this review at a major official conference on 1 September. I expect it'll be submitted to the government about a week later," he added. According to Fico, the current text is already the fifth version of the vision document. "It is a visionary text backed by more than 350 experts," he said. While acknowledging that some of its conclusions are likely to spark debate, Fico underlined that the document provides a non-partisan, expert assessment of what Slovakia should look like in 2040 and the direction it should take in the future. He said the vision will be followed by a strategy setting out how the objectives outlined in the document should be achieved. That strategy will also require government approval. Fico said he believed the document should serve as a long-term guide for future governments. "The document is of such high quality that it should form the basis of the government's policy statement," he said. The prime minister pledged that if his Smer-SD party remains in power after the 2027 parliamentary election, it will incorporate the key points of the Slovakia 2040 Vision into its government manifesto. He added that he will also ask opposition parties to do the same. "We do not know what outcome the next year's election will be. We'll invite the opposition to the September conference, and I would like to urge it that, if it forms the next government, it should take this strategic document extremely seriously and reflect it in the government's policy statement," Fico said. The Slovakia 2040 Vision is an independent, cross-party and cross-sector strategic document prepared under a government resolution by experts from academia and the business community under the auspices of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The document assesses Slovakia's current state, identifies the values considered essential for the country's future, presents possible development scenarios based on global megatrends, and sets out the main priorities for achieving its overarching objective of improving the quality of life of Slovakia's population. More than 350 experts from civil society, business and academia contributed to the document over a six-month period. The Slovak Academy of Sciences also organised a series of workshops, round-table discussions and regional consultations with local authorities, resulting in the incorporation of more than 2,300 comments into the final draft. mf