Danko: French Senate Head Larcher and I Advocate Balance in Foreign Affairs

Paris/Bratislava, October 18 (TASR-correspondent) – Slovak-French ties, the centenary of the founding of the first Czechoslovak Republic and current European issues including Brexit and migration were the main issues discussed by Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) and French Senate President Gerard Larcher in Paris on Thursday, TASR learnt on the same day.

Larcher promised Danko that either he in person or a representative of the Senate will participate in the V4 (Visegrad Four: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia)+France+Germany summit, to be held in Bratislava on November 15. This will pose an opportunity to discuss the main problems bedevilling Europe – security, migration, cybersecurity and relations with Ukraine and Russia, thinks Danko.

“I have shown great appreciation of the views of Mr. Larcher and his colleagues as well as their well-balanced ties to the Russian Federation, where I realised that the policy I’m striving for – to carry on a multi-vector dialogue – is bearing fruit,” Danko told journalists, adding that Larcher is an advocate of balance in foreign affairs.

“I’m here on the occasion of the 100th anniversary to bow to all the French who were helping us during the formation of the Czechoslovak Republic and who were the first to stand beside us when the Slovak Republic was created,” stated Danko.

Larcher informed the journalists that he also discussed the joint European defence with Danko. Although Europe leans on NATO as the pillar of its defence, Larcher realised during a number of recent talks with various European representatives that the issue of creating a joint European army is “one of the most important topics, if not the most important one”.