Walter Rochel, the Ambassador of the European Commission's Delegation to Bratislava, attended a meeting of the parliamentary committee for European integration and suggested that some shifts might take place in Slovakia that could lift the country into the EU entry vanguard.
Ambassador Rochel said that Slovakia is doing well in meeting the EU's political criteria. He sees progress in renewing the tradition of bilingual school report cards at minority schools. However, Rochel warned that Slovakia should pay more attention to independence of its courts.
The ambassador, who comes from Austria, also mentioned his desire to have Slovakia decommission the older of Slovakia's two nuclear power plants, the Jaslovské Bohunice nuclear power plant, which is 60 kilometres from the Austrian boarder. An important European Commission criteria, he said, is the diversification of energy sources.
