Volt Slovensko will participate in the 2024 European elections. (source: SME)
Today, across our continent, citizens are celebrating Europe Day. For Slovaks, this is already the twentieth time we reach this date on the calendar since becoming citizens of the European Union on May 1, 2004. Our country is no longer a “new member state”. It is time we no longer think just as Slovaks, but also as Europeans.
What does that mean?
It means thinking of Europe not as a distant bureaucracy, but as our home, our neighbourhood. If there are scandals around how money is distributed, we should recognise that as our money and expect people to be held accountable for its management. To think of the European Union as a new mega force threatening to take power away from the local level is to abdicate our responsibility to use our powers to speak, to agitate, to advocate, to vote.
We are not naive. We see the weaknesses that are inherent in any system.
But we also see the unique strengths of today’s Europe, and the benefits it has brought to the daily lives of every one of us – benefits that mean we as Slovaks are able to live more healthily, more freely, and in greater prosperity than any generation before us.
We are able to find more meaningful jobs, which enable us to earn, save and invest in the future of our families and communities. When Slovakia joined the EU in 2004, national unemployment was 18.6 percent. Today it is only 6.8 percent. In 20 years, the Slovak Gross Domestic Product per capita has more than doubled from €13,300 to over €30,000. We can shop in Czechia, work in Austria, buy property in Hungary, and travel through Germany more easily than ever.
Compared to previous generations, we are freer to speak our minds, to worship what we want, and, increasingly, to share our love openly. These developments are thanks in part to our place in a Europe without borders, a Europe that unites around shared values.
It’s not that we don’t still have challenges. War rains down on the homes of our neighbours, leading more than 100,000 of them to seek safety in the land we call home. This crisis has raised serious questions about the security of our energy supply and our food supply. This all comes as we emerge from a pandemic that killed more than 20,000 of our compatriots and forced more than a thousand retail businesses to close across the country.
We have not managed these crises alone. We have done so together with our European partners and friends.
After World War II ravaged our region, institutions were created to address the need for cooperation across Europe. In 2004, Slovakia gained a voice and influence in these institutions. But politicians still come from national interests and have to adapt to an international context. Imagine if politicians started with an international mindset.
There’s now a name for that. Introducing Volt, the first pan-European political party.
Volt Slovensko will participate in the 2024 European elections. It will do so to provide Slovaks a truly European option that approaches international challenges with cross-border solutions. Slovaks have a history of finding common purpose with our sisters and brothers in the region, be it through the formation of Czechoslovakia out of the rubble of World War I, or the creation of the Visegrad group following the fall of Communism. This is a strength to be proud of.
As Slovaks, we need more such cross-border cooperation. We look forward to next year’s European elections as an opportunity for Slovaks to clearly state how we want Europe to look and function.
If you, like most Slovaks, did not even know Europe Day exists as a holiday each year, it is understandable. We have no great traditions to mark May 9, the way we do to mark January 1, August 29 or December 24, for example. We do not gather with family for feasts, exchange presents, or even take the day off from work.
But today, we invite you to think about Europe. Maybe even to celebrate Europe.
Lucia Kleštincová and Rick Zedník are the Co-Presidents of Volt Slovensko.
Author: Lucia Kleštincová
