House Chair Rasi Keen to Support Parliamentary Cooperation with Portugal (2)

Bratislava, 2 November (TASR) - House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) welcomed the Speaker of the Portuguese Assembly, Jose Pedro Correia de Aguiar-Branco, at Bratislava Castle on Monday, praising the ties between the two countries and stressing efforts to strengthen cooperation at the parliamentary level, TASR reported on Monday. High on the agenda of the meeting was the development of bilateral and parliamentary relations, economic and defence cooperation, and current European and security issues. According to Rasi, the last visit by a Speaker of the Portuguese Assembly to Bratislava took place ten years ago. He noted that Correia de Aguiar-Branco personally took part in the democratic processes of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989, when he came to Prague to support students. The representatives also discussed cooperation on drawing up the European Union's future long-term budget for 2028-2034. Rasi stated that Slovakia will host meetings of the House chairs of the Visegrad Group (V4: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and the Friends of Cohesion Group in Bratislava on 12-13 November. "I'd like to express my gratitude that Portugal will also be represented here, as the aim is to define all priorities of our countries so that the new EU budget is drawn up in a way that suits our countries, our citizens and, above all, our national needs," emphasised Rasi. The Slovak House chair also thanked his Portuguese counterpart for Portugal's military support for Slovakia and the deployment of 185 Portuguese soldiers at the Lest military training area (Banska Bystrica region) as part of NATO's multinational forces in Slovakia. "They've been helping to protect our territory for many years, and thereby our shared space," he stressed. Correia de Aguiar-Branca described the deployment of troops as a demonstration of solidarity in defence and stated that the principles of territorial integrity and peace on the continent "are sacred". "Portugal, just like Slovakia, certainly stands on the front line in defending these higher values, which are fundamental to our nations - freedom, democracy and peace," said the Portuguese representative. In addition, Rasi spoke about cooperation in the field of culture, recalling his personal ties to Portugal dating back to his time as mayor of Kosice, in particular in connection with the European Capital of Culture project. He stressed that he'd like to strengthen cooperation between Slovakia and Portugal at the parliamentary level, including links between youth parliaments and student organisations. "We need to strengthen relations between parliaments. Parliaments are institutions that form the highest level of democracy, and it is in parliaments that nations are represented," said the speaker of the Portuguese Assembly, noting that it is in parliament that agreements are reached and democracy is put into practice. "All this is taking place at a time when democracy faces major challenges across the world, and we're striving to promote cooperation between parliaments themselves," he added. The visit comes in response to an official invitation that Rasi handed over to Portuguese Ambassador to Slovakia Maria Joao Falcao Poppe Lopes Cardoso in December of 2025. Rasi had previously met Correia de Aguiar-Branco in June of the same year during a NATO Parliamentary Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. NOTE: This story has been extended to include paragraphs 2, 4, 5 and 7. jrg/am/df