On Friday afternoon, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Slovenian counterpart Alenka Bratusek inaugurated a road linking Kétvölgy and Felsőszölnök in Vas County, close to the Slovene border, of which Prime Minister Orbán said: the construction of this road represents a victory over our weaknesses.
The Slovenes living in the Rába Region have been calling for this road for a long time, and the need for its construction was first mentioned one hundred years ago. Planning began 11 years ago and construction began in 2007.
The Hungarian Prime Minister said that the Government owed the locals a historical debt to construct the highway, not least because they entrusted the Government with an overwhelming majority in the last elections, adding that this is not about politics, it is about trust and the obligation of leaders to reciprocate the trust invested in them. He also mentioned that while road access between Hungary and Slovenia is currently possible using eight locations an average of 12.5 km apart, this figure is usually 2-4 km in Western Europe and so it was high time to come to an agreement with the Prime Minister of Slovenia about establishing a further six border crossing points by 2020.
Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek said that the national minorities living on both sides of the border not only connect and unite the two countries, but they also make possible the development of closer economic, cultural and human relations, which are values of such importance that this opportunity must be utilised. The road linking the two settlements is not just an old wish of the locals, but it creates a new link between Hungary and Slovenia as well and contributing significantly to the rapid economic development of the Rába Region. She added that this road is symbolic evidence that Hungary pays attention to its Slovene minority which has achieved significant results in recent years, such as the government support of a local bilingual primary school, the successful operation of the Alliance of Slovenes in Hungary, the expanded air time of the Szentgotthárd/Monošter Slovenian language radio channel and the activities of the model farm run by Slovenian Raba-Country Non-Profit Ltd.
She underlined the importance of solving the tasks raised by the future challenges faced by Slovenes in Hungary together. Prime Minister Bratusek expressed her hope that the new minority speaker, who will be present in the Parliament from the next term according to the new law on elections, will be granted the proper entitlements, the existing minority municipalities will remain in existence and the central funding for minority local governments will be "permanent and not related to the number of minority inhabitants".
She said that she is overjoyed by the "dynamic and honest dialogue" between the two countries, which are also linked by the EU and NATO. It is a mutual interest to deepen political and economic cooperation within such regional joint operations as the Central European Initiative and the Visegrád Cooperation, she added.
The Government Commissioner for Vas County, Bertalan Harangozó, said that the county acts as a bridge between the two countries. The road, which now links all settlements inhabited by Slovenes, is also a symbol of the locals’ attachment to the region and to each other, and of the two countries' intent to cooperate. He added that the road has shortened the distance between the two settlements from 25 km to 5 km and cost HUF 728 million (€ 2,5 Million), which was financed by the Hungarian Government.
(MTI)