Slovakia’s long-term problem, which hinders its development more than the lack of resources, is the discontinuity in the implementation of long-term strategic goals. Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said this in a balance interview on TASR TV.
According to him, every government has a tendency to cancel the projects of the previous one. “We could not agree on the key areas of the program, which goes beyond one-two-three electoral periods and where the governments respect the priorities of this program, regardless of the political spectrum they are from,” pointed out Pellegrini.
If each minister cancels the projects of his predecessor and starts implementing his own idea during the election period, the result, according to the president, is that nothing will be completed. “We run the country from election to election, and that’s why other countries that can make ambitious decisions are ahead of us,” he stated.
For example According to him, Poland has moved forward significantly by implementing long-term infrastructure projects over the past ten years. “He is ahead of us in infrastructure, in decisions about high-speed railways that are supposed to connect the three largest Polish cities, and the completion of highways,” said the president.
Pellegrini perceives positively that the government has made important strategic decisions in the energy sector, but he would expect the ability to launch long-term projects in other areas as well. “If the government can make the ambitious decision that we are going to build two more units at the nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice, why don’t we have such an ambitious plan to complete the construction of water pipes and sewerage systems in all villages in the coming years?” asks Pellegrini.
If we want to overcome the narrow focus of each government on the current election period, according to him, it is necessary to establish long-term priorities in individual sectorswhich the state will then monitor in the course of time periods exceeding the mandates of individual governments for a long time.
According to Pellegrini, a pragmatic foreign policy aimed at building relations with all four countries should also serve to support the state’s long-term economic priorities. “I reject blanket claims that the government is changing our foreign policy orientation. With the Prime Minister and the leadership of the parliament, we signed a clear declaration on Constitution Day that the living space for Slovakia is the European Union and NATO, but that we will act sovereignly in them,” underlined the president.
“The future of Slovak diplomacy and our small country is not to question membership in the EU and NATO, to speak there with a sovereign voice, but to be a responsible ally and partner,” the president added.
