Danko: Slovaks and Czech Must Show Unity in EU and Open Common Topics
Prague, November 14 (TASR correspondent) – Slovaks and Czechs are reviewing the centenary of their co-existence, and despite the division of the common state, the two nations share a common goal, values, mutual respect and sincere friendship, said Slovak Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) in his address to the Czech Parliament, whose session on Wednesday was devoted to the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the Czecho-Slovak Revolutionary National Assembly.
At the same time, before the next elections to the European Parliament both countries must show to the rest of Europe their unity and open up common topics within the European Union (EU), such as the fight for quality food.
“After the splitting of the common state, we met again in the common European home. We’re members of the EU, which we see as a group of sovereign national states. We’ll show to the rest of Europe before the next elections to the European Parliament how united we are,” said Danko on Wednesday.
Danko also expressed pleasure that even in the V4 format “the Czech Republic and Slovakia are a dynamic element” and both countries are accepted partners on the European scene.
According to Danko, both Slovakia and the Czech Republic should open up new themes in the EU. “We have a problem with retail chains that are suppressing our food producers and farmers. We’re fighting for the right of our citizens to have the same quality food as the inhabitants of the western part of the [European] Union, and here again I must thank my Czech colleagues that they’ve stood with us in this fight,” said the head of the Slovak Parliament in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament.
Andrej Danko was the first politician from Slovakia to deliver a speech to the Czech Parliament. After former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Paul Ryan, Danko was the third foreign politician to address the Czech MPs in the era of their own state. The Czech Parliament was at the same time the third foreign parliament where the head of the Slovak Parliament delivered a speech. He appeared in the Russian State Duma last year, and in the Serbian Parliament in June.
