SLOVAK President Ivan Gašparovič met with his US counterpart Barack Obama in Warsaw on June 3. They discussed the situation in Ukraine and energy security in Europe.
At a round table of presidents of central and eastern Europe the US president stressed that the Ukrainian crisis has changed the perception of security in Europe.
“The situation in Ukraine forces us to more carefully perceive our alliance with the NATO and the European Union,” said Gašparovič, as quoted by the SITA newswire. He added that Ukraine needs domestic stability, and this must be secured not from the outside, but rather by Ukrainians themselves via their elected representatives. “Thus, the Slovak Republic praises the fact that Ukraine did the first step by electing President Poroshenko,” the Slovak president said. He added that, “the path of Ukraine’s stability lies in the reform of self-administrations”.
Barack Obama appraised the progress in countries of central and eastern Europe after democratic changes 25 years ago, stressing the role of NATO as a contribution to the security in this region. However, he called on the leaders of these countries to assume a higher level of responsibility for their own security and asked them to increase their contributions to defence within NATO forces.
Gašparovič said that Slovakia supports the diversification of energy sources and also supports Poland in importing and processing shale gas. He added, however, that for Slovakia, the priority remains nuclear power as a source of clean and environmentally friendly energy. The top event continued with a gala evening celebrating the 25th anniversary of democratic change in Poland.
(Source: SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
