The President mentioned the benefits of EU membership in her speech on the European Parliament elections

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President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová on Wednesday evening in a television address regarding the European Parliament elections highlighted to voters the advantages of EU membership.

In her usual appeal for voters to exercise their right to vote on Saturday, June 8, and to cast their ballot for one of the candidacy subjects, she added a few words about the significance of these elections. She reminded that the EU has been “our living space for twenty years” and thanks to this membership the Slovak Republic has gained much greater influence and opportunities to shape events across the European continent.

“We have gained more space for self-fulfillment, for pursuing our professions, education, traveling, or developing our creativity. Unprecedented opportunities for economic development, trade, and regional cooperation have opened up to us, which would otherwise remain inaccessible. To the billions of euros from EU funds, we must add the fact that thanks to membership in the Union, Slovakia has higher economic performance and a higher standard of living,” said the President.

She added that the EU was created as a peace project and an expression of the will of European nations and states to avoid the repetition of political and military conflicts and to embark on a path of understanding and cooperation.

“The list of benefits from our membership in the Union could go on. The EU is a unique initiative that never had and does not have a final form. We are the ones shaping it. Therefore, when selecting our candidates who will represent us in Brussels, we should listen not only to what they reject about the Union but also to how they propose to improve it. How they want to strengthen Slovakia’s voice and increase the weight of our interests. Strengthening our country’s voice means honestly pursuing the understanding of our partners for our priorities. This is a necessary first step on the road to their realistic enforcement. Successful European countries do this. Slovakia has also managed to enforce the most precisely when we came with proposals that strengthened the Union as a whole, and for which we were able to gain the support of our partners,” she explained.

According to her, the EU covers almost half a billion inhabitants of 27 states with often differing interests and opinions, which is why finding agreements and common solutions is not easy. However, she considers Slovakia’s membership in the Union to be one of the greatest civilizational phenomena, into which the country has fought its way despite obstacles and must fully utilize this opportunity.

“We must work on what needs to be improved or fixed in the Union. The path to amendment, however, is not in its wholesale questioning or generally blaming Brussels, but in promoting specific solutions in line with the principles and values on which the EU is based. These include peaceful and democratic cooperation based on agreement, fair consensus, and solidarity,” the president conveyed, and at the end of her speech, she called on citizens to exercise their right to vote on Saturday, June 8, and their chance to influence the path that Europe and Slovakia will continue to take. (June 6)

“The EU is a unique initiative that never had and does not have a final form. We are the ones shaping it. Therefore, when selecting our candidates who will represent us in Brussels, we should listen not only to what they reject about the Union but also to how they propose to improve it.” Zuzana Čaputová

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