President Zuzana Čaputová during her last New Year's address on January 1, 2024. (source: Facebook)
Dear Fellow Citizens,
I wish you a lot of health, comfort and understanding on the threshold of the new year. Today we commemorate the 31st anniversary of our statehood. I wish for 2024 to bring more peace and stability.
Our private wishes and expectations for the coming year may differ. But at this moment, almost all of us maintain the hope that they will be fulfilled. That even if complications and difficulties arise, we will manage to solve them and things will get better. However, in the difficult times we have been living in the last few years, even our hope is often confronted by harsh reality. We experienced too many crises, a source of uncertainty and which placed many in difficult life situations. The past year was no exception. We have experienced numerous political conflicts, three prime ministers, a fierce election campaign and early elections. It was undoubtedly a challenging year, full of changes, expectations, their fulfilment, but also disappointments.
Early elections probably resulted in the biggest change. A change of government is also a part of democracy. However, elections do not change society, the democratic values on which it is based must not be changed. And if there is an effort towards fundamental changes, then it can happen only after a thorough analysis and honest discussion. Thus, we need a continuity of values when building our statehood. Not just declared, but real.
Therefore, let's protect and promote our constitutional democratic values. Let's also protect the institutions whose functioning is necessary for democracy. Whether it is law enforcement agencies, free media, or non-governmental organisations. Let's continue to do so with respect and decency. So that the desire to fight does not darken anyone's mind, and so that fighting itself does not become the main meaning of our actions instead of the values we wanted to protect.
Building and strengthening statehood is our common duty. We may not be able to eliminate all its shortcomings and diseases right away. But that cannot be a reason to resign ourselves. We are not responsible for the outcome, but we are fully responsible for our part in it.
Dear Fellow Citizens,
It would be disrespectful to the truth if we told ourselves that there is no reason to disagree and be dissatisfied with some phenomena in our society. The lists are long. But let's also talk about what we can be proud of and what we can rely on in our society.
The reason for pride is certainly you, our citizens, our civil society, which has been showing its maturity and solidarity for years. Active citizens and non-governmental organisations have long fulfilled important functions in the fields of social care, education, environmental protection, and in the promotion of the rights of minorities and all people without difference. We can also rely on our local governments, which once again confirmed their viability and professionalism, and were a stabilising element of the functioning of our state in changing times.
The result of your work is a concrete help, sometimes even leading to systemic changes. But it always helps us trust ourselves and trust each other a little more.
Dear Fellow Citizens,
Help is the basis of trust, and trust is a prerequisite for a functioning state and a cohesive community.
Therefore, the primary role of the state in crisis situations must be direct assistance to those who, through no fault of their own, find themselves on the verge of survival. For a long time, poverty has not only affected people who have lost their jobs, but also working people and entire families who live without savings and in conditions that threaten their dignity.
Today, incomplete, single-parent families and especially children are most at risk. At the same time, we owe the most to children and the young generation. Even experts warn us that there is a gap between us and the younger generation. According to many studies, young people feel misunderstood and lonely. We observe alarming cases of bullying, young people increasingly seeking the help of psychologists and psychiatrists, and it is no longer unusual for them to take their own lives. So we must be significantly more interested in what young people are experiencing. We need to create a safe school environment for them, leave a functioning pension system, sustainable public finances and not abandon them in uncertainty in solving the climate crisis.
Our mistakes, our inattention and irresponsibility will be felt more fundamentally by the generation of today's youth than by their parents. We must be anchored in the present, but we must not forget that this does not absolve us of responsibility for the future.
Dear Fellow Citizens,
As president, I am addressing you for the last time at this New Year's moment. When I took up the post of president, I said that if we are to successfully manage the journey from a Slovakia as it stands now to a Slovakia as it could be, we must openly talk about what helps us and what holds us back.
Five years after I took office, I am convinced that one of the biggest obstacles to our development is a lack of culture, especially in politics, and the number of conflicts in our society. For many, it is also an obstacle to staying in Slovakia, and for others an obstacle to returning home.
Animosity becomes a hallmark of public life. However, it also spills over into our families, households, and relationships between people. Rudeness, vulgarity and lying are not signs of strength, but of weakness. Weak people resort to them. They are impressed by such behaviour and so they repeat it. True strength lies in calmness and perspective. And the greatest strength is the ability to control yourself.
It is not by chance that one attribute of democracy is the ability to exchange opinions and communicate decently, to respect other people even with different views. These characteristics and qualities proved to be a necessary prerequisite for people to coexist and form a functioning society. They are standards created over years of development.
We simply need more truth and love, as pathetic as that sounds. Finally, remembering the values and qualities proven over centuries does not have to be pathetic. That they are notorious is not a sign of their devaluation, but on the contrary, it confirms their validity and importance. And we still need them now.
We all need more kindness and understanding in communication, in interactions, even when we disagree. Actually, especially then. Because there is always a person standing opposite us, because we all belong to the same human family. People must not feel threatened. They must feel a sense of security and belonging to their community, to their surroundings, so that they can combine their skills and strengths.
Dear Fellow Citizens,
Despite the difficult years we have experienced, we need to look to the future with hope. During the almost five years of my mandate, I met thousands of people, our citizens. They were exceptional stories, great talents, successful companies, excellent scientists, people in factories, villages, and cities. And every time the Slovak national anthem was played during a foreign visit, this experience was also there with me. I was there with these innumerable reasons to be proud of Slovakia. Of the country under the Tatras, which still has a long way to go, but which has already covered part of a successful path.
I wish you a happy and successful new year!
