Danko Calls for Religious Dialogue at Conference in Vienna
Vienna/Bratislava, April 8 (TASR-correspondent) – At the Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments, Slovak Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) called for religious dialogue, wanting to support with his address the idea of expanding the European Union towards the Balkans, TASR learnt on Monday.
“I deliberately pointed to… the message of a dialogue of religions. The greatest challenge for living in the modern world is precisely the religious dialogue and smoothing the edges between Christianity and Muslims, but mainly defining radical religion,” said Danko. An example is, according to him, Austria, which has stopped the suspicious funding of some mosques. However, he emphasised that every religion needs to be honoured.
According to the Slovak parliamentary chair, a good example was Pope Francis’ visit to Abu Dhabi. “There’s no need to be scared of other religions or other people,” he stressed, adding that he personally has an excellent relationship with Serbia and a very friendly relationship with Montenegro. “These two states should be primary and preferred for joining the [European] Union,” he underlined.
According to Danko, the EU must send to the Western Balkan countries a clear and convincing signal of belonging and a common vision for the future. “In this context, I’m pleased that Northern Macedonia has reached a historic breakthrough in relations with Greece after 27 years, creating a new, positive situation not only for itself, but also for other Western Balkan countries,” he said during the speech.
If the EU does not use the strategic opportunity to integrate the Western Balkans, Danko opines that it will thus open up a space for security threats, instability and unwanted external influence throughout the region, which has an importance also recognised by other international players.
