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.

Bratusek said the road symbolised Hungary’s attention to the Slovenian national minority, which has been successful over the past years. As an example he mentioned the state overtaking the bilingual primary school and the successful operation of the Alliance of Hungarian Slovenians, as well as other projects.

He said he trusted that in the next Hungarian parliament to set up after the spring election, the national minority representative to be elected to parliament will be given all assurances needed to secure minority rights and that local Slovenian self-governments would be retained, and funding for institutions will become regular through the central budget, “regardless of the minority community’s size.”

He added that relations between Hungary and Slovenia were “dynamic and based on genuine dialogue” and they are linked by parnership in the European Union and NATO. Deepening political and economic cooperation at a regional level such as through the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the Visegrad Group were in the two countries’ mutual interest, he added.

The crossings will be built using funds available in the EU’s 2014-2020 development programme.

Photo: MTI – Szilárd Koszticsák

Source: http://hungarymatters.hu/