Hungarian, Slovenian premiers sign declaration of intent on opening border links

Budapest, January 10 (MTI) – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Slovenian counterpart Alenka Bratusek on Friday signed a declaration of intent on developing road infrastructure and creating six border crossing points between the two countries.

At their meeting in Apatistvanfalva, one of Hungary’s westernmost villages bordering Slovenia, Hungary’s trade chief Peter Szijjarto, acting as the event’s moderator, said that in order to boost central European competitiveness, it was indispensable that borders should link people together rather than separating them.

Orban said after the signing that there were currently eight points to cross into Slovenia from Hungary which means that the average distance between crossings is still 12.5 kilometres, as compared to a European average of 2-4 kilometres. Under the agreement signed today, six more crossings will be built by 2020, he said.

The two premiers also attended the opening of a new road to link Felsoszolnok and Ketvolgy, two villages in western Hungary with a Slovenian minority.

“Completing this road is a victory over our weaknesses,” Orban said, noting that planning began eleven years ago. The groundstone was laid in 2007, but then “nothing happened”, construction stalled due to bureaucratic problems and technical and environmental misregulation. He said it was a problem characteristic to Hungary that a project is blocked by legal procedure.