SLOVAKIA celebrated the 15th anniversary of its constitution with a national holiday on September 1.
The Slovak Parliament approved the state's most important document on September 1, 1992.
On the anniversary, Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška unveiled a commemorative plaque by sculptor Ľudmila Cvengrošová on the facade of the historic Slovak Parliament building at Bratislava's Župné Square, the SITA newswire wrote. It says that a declaration on the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic and the Constitution of the Slovak Republic was adopted in that building in 1992.
Paška said those were the two most important events in the contemporary history of Slovakia.
In his speech one day before the anniversary, President Ivan Gašparovič said Slovakia's Constitution has passed the test of time and was highly esteemed when Slovakia entered the Council of Europe in mid-1993, the TASR newswire wrote.
He said it's a modern and living document that includes the universally-recognised principles of self-determination, sovereignty and identity of the Slovak nation, and the nation's indisputable right to have its own state.
"I'm convinced that Slovakia entered its independence with a modern constitution rooted in all the basic human rights and freedoms, and which guarantees and determines Slovakia's further development," Gašparovič said.
Prime Minister Robert Fico, in a speech on August 31, said the country has had a modern constitution for 15 years that has withstood criticism and succeeded in adopting improvements.
Fico said it was important not to forget the people behind the country's modern history. The constitution's authors and advisors, such as Milan Čič, Ľubomír Fogaš, Vladimír Mečiar, Gašparovič and Milan Sečanský, should be given the "standing they deserve", he said.
