President Türk at the Vi¹egrad Group Meeting of Presidents

Sopot, 12.9.2009  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended the Vi¹egrad Group Meeting of Presidents as a guest of honour in Sopot, a town on the Baltic coast of Poland. In his speech at the 2nd presidential plenary session, Dr Türk recalled that topics in the history of this part of Europe exert great influence over the political views of the present moment. He pointed out that Slovenians strongly feel themselves to be part of the Central European space – so rich in cultural heritage and so biased by its difficult past. In his words, it is still relevant that modern forms of international cooperation such as the Vi¹egrad Group be developed as intensely as possible. In addition, Dr Türk mentioned the idea of cooperation between the Vi¹egrad Group of countries and the former Yugoslavia successor countries. He stressed that Slovenia as an EU Member State is making real efforts to achieve the integration of the rest of the former Yugoslavia successor states into the European Union.

As one of the Vi¹egrad Group's practical achievements, Dr Türk stressed the existence of the International Vi¹egrad Fund, the purpose of which is financing cooperation projects between Vi¹egrad countries; in addition, the Vi¹egrad Group constitutes a sound framework for consultation regarding European Union issues. In his view, one of the key challenges is the relationship between the sovereignty of the EU Member States and the competences transferred to EU institutions. Slovenia is committed to strengthening the European Union; however, according to Slovenia’s president this does not mean suspending the sovereignty of the Member States. It is necessary to pursue both, the strengthening and effectiveness of the European Union and its institutions, as well as the respect and strengthening of the sovereignty of the Member States, concluded Dr Türk, adding that this was not an easy task. Another important issue is that of EU enlargement and the NATO Alliance. President Türk stressed that Slovenia was actively interested in further enlargement and that it wished to help all the concerned candidate countries. The President then made a brief presentation of Slovenia’s relations with the South-Eastern European countries and mentioned the agreement reached between the governments of Slovenia and Croatia relating to the continuation of Croatia’s EU accession negotiations and to seeking a resolution of the border dispute between the two countries.

President Türk drew attention to the fact that the international community was facing difficult issues requiring consultation between countries. He expressed Slovenia's readiness to participate in the Vi¹egrad Group discussions on global warming, energy security and solidarity. Regarding the latter, President Türk said that Slovenia favoured a multilateral approach to the discussion on Europe's energy future. In his view, energy issues should become part of the European Union enlargement discussion. Slovenia, in view of its historical ties with the Eastern European countries, wishes to participate in the discussion on Eastern Partnership issues, including EU cooperation with its eastern neighbours. In addition, Dr Türk added that Slovenia was also a Mediterranean country, thus pointing to the delicate matter of making comparisons between different EU policies in relation to the EU’s eastern and southern neighbours. He also expressed the need for open and broad discussions on future relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation, an issue that Slovenia advocated during its EU Council Presidency.

"We are all part of the global world and we have to dedicate part of our attention to global issues," added Dr Türk. One such issue is the fight against the HIV virus and AIDS, as well as combating tuberculosis and malaria. Dr Türk also touched on the issue of Afghanistan and expressed his concern about the situation and the perspectives of international commitments in this country. In his personal view, the time has come to prepare an exit strategy and to consider bringing an end to the international military presence in Afghanistan. At the close of his address, Dr Türk supported the development of the Vi¹egrad Group as a place for promoting consultation in compliance with the rules, procedures and traditions of this group of countries.

On the margins of the Sopot meeting, Dr Türk met with the President of the Slovak Republic, Dr Ivan Ga¹paroviè, and the President of the Republic of Hungary, László Sólyom. The Slovak president acquainted Dr Türk with the present evolution of the Vi¹egrad Group Meeting of Presidents, which started on Friday. He pointed out that the Vi¹egrad Group countries would need the assistance of smaller countries in order to strengthen their position within the European Union itself. President Türk stressed that cooperation with the Vi¹egrad Group of countries constitutes one of Slovenia’s foreign policy priorities. President Ga¹paroviè congratulated Slovenia’s president on reaching an agreement between Slovenia and Croatia concerning Croatian EU accession negotiations and solving the border dispute. Dr Türk informed his Slovakian counterpart of the content of the agreement, while the latter acquainted him with the Slovakia-Hungary dispute over the Slovak Language Act relating to the use of the Hungarian national minority language in the government and other public services in Slovakia.

President Türk and his Hungarian counterpart discussed, in particular, the present evolution of the Vi¹egrad Group Meeting of Presidents and plans for the future. President Sólyom showed interest in the Slovenia-Croatia agreement regarding the border dispute between the two countries and the continuation of Croatia's EU accession negotiations.