Reliable cooperation with neighbors is even more valued amid crisis, according to the Foreign Minister.Continue reading
For Hungary, Slovenia is a neighbor with whom there have not been any open questions for a very long time, the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, László Kövér, said in Ljubljana on Monday. He added that the two countries could discuss at each meeting what could be done further and what could be done to ensure the survival of national communities.
Urska Klakocar Zupancic, Speaker of the Slovenian National Assembly, received László Kövér on Monday to discuss the development of bilateral relations between the countries, the intensification of inter-parliamentary and economic cooperation, with a special focus on the situation of the two national communities, Slovenians in Hungary and Hungarians in Slovenia.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Kövér thanked the Slovenian Speaker for providing the opportunity to continue the traditionally close Slovenian-Hungarian parliamentary cooperation. According to him,
Hungary sees Slovenia not only as a good neighbor, a friend and an equal player in bilateral relations, but also as a member of a community in the Central European context contributing to strengthening the region’s ability to unite its interests in the European Union.
Zupancic said that the cooperation between the two countries was exemplary and that economic progress would be made in the future. As far as the two national communities are concerned, they agreed that both countries are characterized by care and that this can be an example for other countries, Zupancic stressed, adding that children are given the conditions to use their mother tongue from kindergarten onward.
National communities can also participate in shaping politics, as the Hungarian minority has a member of parliament in Slovenia and the Slovenian minority has a parliamentary representative in Hungary,”
she pointed out.
During his visit to Slovenia, Kövér was also received by Marko Lotrica, President of the Council of State of the bicameral Slovenian Parliament, and by Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar.
In the afternoon, the two speakers of parliament attended a national reception in Kranj to commemorate the 1848-49 Revolution and War of Independence, and a bust of Sándor Petőfi was unveiled. The statue of Petőfi is located in the same park as the bust of France Preseren, one of the greatest poets of Slovenian literature and the author of the Slovenian national anthem.
Kövér said that Sándor Petőfi and France Preseren had a crystal-clear message for present and future Hungarians and Slovenians authenticated by history, namely that freedom should never be expected from Western or Eastern empires, because “empires can only ever have subjects who can be deceived, humiliated, and exploited at any time.” He added that
freedom, meaning political, economic, and cultural self-determination, can only be guaranteed to its citizens by the democratic Hungarian and Slovenian national states and their mutually reinforced cooperation.
Zupancic stressed that today’s event brought together representatives of two neighboring countries, friends who are aware of the great importance of their past and the people who shaped it. The friendship between the two peoples has a long history, which has always been maintained and strengthened by the care for the two national communities and will continue to be fostered in the future,” said the Slovenian Speaker.
Featured photo via Pixabay
