Slovak President fears her country could step onto Orbán’s path

Photo: Youtube/Prt Sc

The newly elected Czech President Petr Pavel made his first official visit to Slovakia. On Monday evening, he had a conversation with Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová at the Slovak National Theatre.

According to index.hu, besides the relations between the two countries, the V4 (Visegrád Group) was also discussed. Touching on the topic of the V4, they also mentioned Viktor Orbán’s role in the alliance.

Throughout the evening, it was raised that neither of them agreed with the Hungarians’ position on certain issues related to the war in Ukraine. Pavel said that it was an illusion to think that if weapons were not supplied to Ukraine, there could be peace. According to him, “the Russians do not accept compromise.”

The future of the V4

A key point in the discussion was the issue of the V4, as the future of the alliance was discussed. According to Pavel, the future of the V4 and Hungary is not influenced by the Hungarian Prime Minister. He also added that he believed the role of the V4 should be reevaluated, as the alliance was not able to fulfil the expectation of being a guiding force for countries on foreign policy or security issues. He suggested that it could still function as a forum for consultation, but that its role should certainly not be overestimated.

Read also: Upcoming tension? New Czech president awaits government change in Hungary

Slovak President Čaputová took a similar position. She said the V4 was no longer seen abroad as a single political bloc. The reason for this is that the alliance does not agree on important issues such as the rule of law or certain aspects of providing aid to Ukraine, index.hu writes, citing a report by napunk.sk.

The Slovak President’s fear

According to Čaputová, the V4 alliance can help maintain relations between the neighbouring countries, so it makes sense to keep the alliance on a cultural level. The Slovak President reckoned that although their countries would always be neighbours, the leaders would change and in the future, they might find a common ground.

She added that some politicians explicitly admitted that they shared the policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. For this reason, she feared that in the future “Slovakia could go along Orbán’s path.”

There are patterns of policies and attitudes that seem to inspire populist leaders in Europe,

Čaputová expressed her concern.

She believes it would serve a good purpose if the EU were consistent in deciding on the Member States’ interests, which need to be linked to compliance with the rule of law.