CoFoE: Korcok: Slovakia Not against Idea of Updating Basic EU Treaties
Bratislava, May 30 (TASR) – Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korcok (an SaS nominee) has appreciated the fact that the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) was based on a debate with the public, expressing his concern that institutional issues, in particular, may come to the fore in the next stage of the process, however.
“[I’m concerned] that the debate from the streets, towns and cities across Slovakia and across Europe will now take place behind closed doors and will be mainly about who is for and who is against updating basic treaties,” he said.
According to the minister, Slovakia has a clear position on the issue of changing the treaties on the functioning of the EU. “If we define the areas in which we need to change the primary law, we aren’t afraid of this debate at all. But it shouldn’t be just a political-academic debate on whether or not to adjust the treaties. It should be a policy debate in which we clearly identify where there is added value for the public; and, if necessary, let’s update the treaties,” he stressed.
In the minister’s opinion, the CoFoE was created by the impact of Brexit and international developments, when the EU found itself at a crossroads and faced existential questions. “Six years is enough for such a debate. We need to act because the urgency that is attached to the future of the EU and the challenges that press us every day remind us that the discussions need to be brought to a slow end and we need to look at what needs to be done for the future, but also for the present,” said the minister, who hopes that Slovakia will contribute to the debate in a concrete manner.
As he noted, the conference has ended in a very different situation than the one in which it began. “What before the war in Ukraine sometimes sounded like a platitude, that the EU is first and foremost a peace project, is now taking on very concrete contours. It is very clear to everyone; everyone understands what war is and what it means when there is no peace,” he added.