Lajcak: We Have to Show EU Makes Lives of People Safer and Better

Lajcak: We Have to Show EU Makes Lives of People Safer and Better

Washington, October 6 (TASR) – Europe is resolved to continue with joint efforts in 2017, as it has to find the strength to overcome the current challenges, said Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak at the beginning of a conference in Washington on Thursday.

“Our main goal is to bring the European Union closer to Europeans. We have to restore credibility and show that the EU functions and makes the lives of ordinary people safer and better,” stated Lajcak.

The minister has emphasised the importance of EU-US relations. “It’s always useful to talk about transatlantic relations. But now it’s more important than ever before. Events, and not necessarily positive ones, took place in Europe that will influence our partnership. It’s thus good that we can discuss it today,” noted Lajcak.

The conference with the title ‘Stronger With Allies: The Future of Europe After Brexit’ was organised by the Atlantic Council in cooperation with Slovakia’s Presidency of the Council of the EU. Apart from Lajcak, other renowned speakers should take the stage as well – such as former European Investment Bank vice-president Carlos Costa, former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen or EU ambassador to the USA David O’Sullivan.

Representatives of European embassies in the US, experts and researchers from the area of international relations, as well as students and journalists are also taking part.

Lajcak will deliver a speech at the conference one more time – in the section of lectures on the topic ‘Will the European Union Hold? The Future of the European Project Post-Brexit Vote’. Rastislav Kacer, Slovak ambassador to Hungary and former ambassador to the USA, will be among the speakers as well.

Atlantic Council chairman Frederick Kempe in his opening speech said that he’s sorry that Lajcak placed second in the bid for the UN secretary-general. Kempe said that Lajcak can be proud of what he has achieved as well as about where Slovakia stands right now.