2 July, 2013

Greetings to all of you, good afternoon. Mr. Prime Minister. It is with great respect that I welcome the Prime Minister of Slovakia and the Slovak government delegation.

Today's meeting was preceded by a long period of preparation. Together with the Prime Minister of Slovakia, we have during the course of many meetings attempted to establish a relationship of trust between Slovakia and Hungary, which includes both political trust and personal trust. Today's meeting is the result of this building of trust. The agreement we have concluded stands on steady foundations because it is based on mutual trust. And for this reason I was glad to sign the agreement in representation of Hungary and I am sure that with this we are opening a new chapter in the history of Slovakia and Hungary. The dominant factor and idea behind this new chapter is that Hungary and Slovakia are travelling a common path. We are travelling a common path because we both share membership of the European Union, and what we do with the opportunities that lie before is in our hands. In my view, our opportunities are much broader that they previously were. There is a serious opportunity for Central Europe to become the European Union's dominant economic region. This requires us, Central Europeans, to view the economic crisis in a unique way.
It is undoubtedly true that Europe is facing a very serious threat. Today, there is a realistic danger that the crisis, which throughout Europe has caused high unemployment, the reduction of gross national products and the diminishing of the markets we previously occupied internationally, will not be a temporary phenomenon, but a permanent one. Europe must face this risk head on. We however, Hungarians and – if I have understood today's meeting correctly – our Slovakian friends, both also view the crisis as an opportunity, and would not like the Europe of the future to centre only on the crisis. We do not want to see a European Union of crisis, but a European Union of opportunity. If you look at the relevant figures you will see that in 2013, without the economic growth of the Central European countries the European Union would already be in serious economic recession. This is a fact that should give the countries of Central Europe both self-confidence and a feeling of responsibility. The countries of Central Europe are responsible not only for our own economic success, but for the economic success of the whole European Union.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At today's meeting we have come to decisions on important issues. Prime Minister Fico has previously drawn attention to the fact that the longest stretch of common border within the European Union is the Slovak-Hungarian border. This is something we rarely talk about, despite the fact that it is longer than the German-French or even the French-Spanish border.  The Prime Minister and I have agreed that it is an unnatural state of affairs that while the citizens of countries to the west of us can cross their borders every 7.5 kilometres, Slovakians and Hungarians have to travel at least 25 kilometres to do the same. Accordingly, we have now developed our earlier thoughts on changing this state of affairs into a concrete agreement. This means that between 2014 and 2020 we will construct 25 new roads that cross the border, and in addition to these 25 new border crossing points plans include making accessible and renovating several existing border crossings. In addition to increasing the number of road traffic border crossing points, we have also agreed to connect our transport infrastructure. We have previously decided on the construction of a bridge across the Danube at Komárom. We have now reinforced this decision and have set up a joint working committee to re-launch the cross-border public transport system, because we do not think it is a natural state of affairs that people living on different sides of the border today cannot keep contact using public transport. Our second topic was the connection and connecting of our energy networks. This is a key issue with regard to eliminating our energy dependency. We have also come to an agreement on this issue, both with regard to connecting our electricity transport systems and connecting our gas pipelines.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Hungary is serving as leader of the Visegrád Four for the upcoming period, and the Prime Minister shared his related expectations with me, which as Prime Minister acting as President of the Visegrád Four, I am glad to take into account without exception.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Minority issues are of course also important. We were glad to ascertain that the committees and select committees we have set up for this purpose are advancing well with their duties. We encourage them to work with similar effort in future. I have also informed Prime Minister Fico of the fact that at its last session the Government decided to vote on providing a large sum towards the renovation of the dual language school in Sátoraljaújhely and the Slovak School in Békéscsaba, thus further reinforcing the importance, education and culture of Slovaks in Hungary, because it is our firm belief that the Slovak minority living in Hungary plays an important role in the cooperation between Slovakia and Hungary that is built on trust.

Thank you for your attention.

(Prime Minister’s Office)