The cooling of political relations between the Czech and Slovak governments in March 2024 was thoughtless and contrary to the long-term good cooperation between Slovaks and Czechs at other levels of society. The symbolic first trip of the newly elected Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Tomio Okamura, to Slovakia on December 2 therefore came at the right time and may be the beginning of a restart of relations between the two republics, even at the highest political level. The Chairman of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic Richard Raši (Voice-SD) said this on TASR TV.
He recalled that in 2024, the cabinet of former Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala justified the suspension of joint negotiations between the Czech and Slovak governments by disapproval of Slovakia’s policy towards Ukraine. At the same time, Slovakia has similar intergovernmental consultations with the Ukrainian side and continues them to this day. “If the problem was Ukraine, Ukraine probably wouldn’t meet with us on joint governments. Relative to its GDP, Slovakia is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine, but we support it humanitarianly, we don’t give weapons there for free.” stated Rashi.
According to him, relations between neighboring states should not depend on the political orientation of the government in that country, but on efforts to support each other in promoting common interests. “That gesture may have brought domestic political points to Mr. Fiala, but in principle it was a harmful gesture,” Raši said on the sidelines of the suspension of joint intergovernmental consultations.
According to him, today common interests can be identified and promoted even at the V4 level. “Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians and their representatives, it doesn’t matter what they are, they have to sit down at a common table and support common solutions. I’ll mention new European funds, emission allowances, migration problems or the ban on combustion engines from 2035. We can unite on this already.” Rashi indicated.
When asked how he evaluates the fact that his Czech partner Okamura did not include representatives of the opposition who were interested in his parliamentary delegation on the first trip to Slovakia, Raši replied that the composition of the delegation was a matter for the Czech party. “It is Mr. Okamura’s decision, if he took someone else with him, I would respect that,” he stated. However, he personally thinks that Okamura built the delegation in such a way as to maximize the chances of restarting Czech-Slovak relations, and several of its members later became part of the new Czech cabinet under the leadership of Andrej Babiš. Raši emphasized that the purpose of the visit was to improve Czech-Slovak relations and not to solve the internal political issues of both countries.
According to Raši, the Bratislava negotiations with the Speaker of the Czech Parliament point to the importance of parliamentary diplomacy, which can significantly complement that of the government. Following this visit, Richard Raši also traveled to Prague on Wednesday, December 17. The working visit of the President of the Slovak Republic to Prague was aimed at strengthening the parliamentary level of Czech-Slovak relations and also looking for breakthroughs in areas that are strategic for both countries.
