Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico´s Speech at the International Conference GLOBSEC 2013, Bratislava, Slovakia

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have accepted with pleasure the opportunity to make an opening address at the GLOBSEC Forum, again after one year.

The programme of GLOBSEC is nowadays much wider. GLOBSEC has grown to a major international event in our region covering all spheres of international relations. Let me congratulate and thank the organisers for achieving such a high status of our conference. It attracts attention of our partners to Slovakia and stresses its active role at the international scene, what I am - as Prime Minister - proud of.

Security represented the basis for your deliberations in the past years and rightly so. Security is the key prerequisite for positive development in all areas – including economy and we should never take it for granted. With our historical experience in Central Europe we are especially sensitive in this regard.

On the other hand, I share the evaluation of those, who state that in the Transatlantic area we have achieved the highest standard of security and so we can focus our time and energy to enhance our economic stability and prosperity. We cannot overlook the dramatic situation in Syria. We cannot neglect the developments on the Korean peninsula. However, the key to our – European – success, the key to our influence in the world, the key to our global engagement lies today in stabilising the European economy and restarting its growth and in completing the unfinished business of the unification of our continent – both in terms of making the integration larger and deeper. I am glad that the organisers correctly reflected this also in the programme.

A year ago, just a few days after the new Slovak Government was created, I spoke from this place about the foreign and security policy priorities of the new Slovak government. Looking back, I can say with satisfaction that our foreign policy has been clear, focused and - as I promised then - mature and responsible in pursuing our interests.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Slovakia commemorates the 20th anniversary of its independent statehood this year. Let me make a short remark on this occasion.

I will not speak about political leaders and personalities, but about our people - Slovak citizens of each age, social status, political orientation or nationality. Throughout these two decades we have proved that we form a mature and responsible political nation. We have proved that we can manage our domestic affairs democratically and lead our country towards prosperity and stability, to pay our debts and show solidarity to those in need.

We are respected members of the European Union and NATO, which provide us with the highest level of security and stability ever. This forms the basis of our commitment to contribute actively to their further strengthening.

Today we are providers rather than consumers of security and stability, contributors to overall economic prosperity and providers of donor assistance.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Strong pro-European mandate, which my government gained in the last year's elections, has been the basis for the foreign and European policy of my government. We have backed our pro-European stance with concrete, responsible and constructive approach.

We were an integral part of the efforts to stabilise Eurozone starting with the ESM, through the Fiscal Compact to the emerging banking union. Seeking optimal ways for the functioning of the EU in general and the Eurozone in particular is a long-term process. However, I believe that we made a substantial step forward to overcome the crisis last year.

Fiscal consolidation is the cornerstone in the process of the economic recovery. On the EU level we have taken a number of measures in order to ensure better budgetary discipline.

Nevertheless, just agreeing on mechanisms, adopting rules is not enough if we are unable to stick to them. In Slovakia, we are working hard to fulfil the task of pushing down the level of public finance deficit. We intend to meet our deficit target, as stipulated in the Stability and Growth Pact and bring it to 2.9% of GDP this year. In order to achieve this goal, we have to make difficult decisions on both spending and taxation. Nevertheless, the Slovak Government is prepared to take additional measures, if changes in the economic environment so require, to avoid breaching the 3% ceiling this year. The consolidation effort does not end in 2013. We will continue to decrease our deficit of public finances with the medium-term goal of bringing Slovakia’s structural deficit below 0.5% of GDP.

At the same time, I wish to stress, that our consolidation efforts are not carried out in order to satisfy the institutions in Brussels. We do so because there is no other alternative if we want to achieve long-term stabilisation of our public finances. We do so, because we are members of the club with rules that we agreed to respect. We do so because the EU has to regain the trust of markets and the trust of our citizens.

However, consolidation efforts shall not ignore other important economic aspects. We have to take into account the high level of unemployment, especially among young people, and focus our efforts on generating growth and tackling unemployment.

Lack of action on growth and employment could lead to a lost generation among the youth and increase social tension. Thus, we are prepared to discuss the optimal pace of consolidation in the future, so as to ensure a proper balance between fiscal consolidation and economic growth.

We welcome that the European Council reiterated the importance of targeting youth unemployment. We will follow closely and implement those EU initiatives which could improve the perspectives of youth. Last year we made use of the reallocation of EU funds to tackle youth unemployment, but if rules for the use of EU structural funds were less rigid, we could do even more.

In the context of consolidation efforts I must also stress another important principle. The same rules must apply to all EU Member States – big or small alike. If there is to be flexibility on the speed of fiscal consolidation, it must be equally applicable to all Member States.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework among the member states is an important signal that the EU is capable of finding solutions.

The utmost priority now is to reach an agreement with the European Parliament as well, in order to ensure that all programmes and instruments are operational in time. We are prepared to deal with the issues which are of particular importance to the European Parliament. In our view the most problematic issue could be the compulsory and comprehensive revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework. We prefer to avoid any revision that would lead to the re-opening of the agreed allocations. Especially for the Cohesion policy we need predictability of expenditures due to programming procedures. It took us nearly two years (at the level of Member States) to reach an agreement. Starting this extremely difficult process in 3 years again is, in my view, not the best option. I think that we should do our utmost to reach early an overall compromise deal. Otherwise, the EU runs the risk of losing much of its credibility vis-à-vis its citizens and foreign partners as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Slovakia supports deepening of integration of the EU. We understand that the common currency cannot exist anymore in the conditions of a selective integration – that is just monetary integration. The continuation of our common currency cannot go on as initially constructed. We need to complete the genuine economic and monetary union.

Addressing these soft-spots in the construction of Eurozone is a must and it is clear that strengthened integration is required. We support the idea of completing the economic and monetary union based on four pillars as set out in president Van Rompuy last year ´s report. We need changes that will deepen the level of integration with the primary aim of securing stability in the Eurozone and preventing future crises.

When building new European mechanisms and structures the key principles we constantly emphasise are solidarity, responsibility and inclusiveness. It is very important that all EU countries, including those outside Eurozone can fully participate if they wish so.

The agreement on the Single Supervisory Mechanism is a very important step in the building of banking union. This success should inspire us to continue, however the focus on the speedy conclusion of this process cannot be at the expense of its quality.

The two other pillars – fiscal and economic - are closely interconnected. We support the strict rules for economic policies and budgetary discipline, as well as measures striving towards better control and coordination of these policies at the European level. In this regard, we are also supportive of the idea of contracts for competitiveness and growth between member states and European institutions.

At the same time, we need more time for a thorough discussion about well-balanced solidarity mechanisms, which should provide support to countries undergoing structural reforms in the framework of contracts with EU institutions. We have to avoid possible moral hazard; a situation in which a country could delay important reforms and wait for a “contract” with financial aid.

We are strengthening our partnership with other global economies and working on trade and investment agreements (for example with USA or Japan). Slovakia is largely an export-oriented economy. Therefore we strongly welcome the long-awaited report of the High Level Group which recommends the launch of negotiations on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and the USA and hope the agreement could be signed next year. We have a unique opportunity, given this difficult period, to establish far the largest free trade agreement in in the world history beneficial for both sides of the Atlantic. For the EU, the agreement could provide €119 billion a year in economic gains.

Today, when the EU copes with certain, mainly economic and financial challenges, we need new enthusiasm, as well as courage to seek solutions that would bring new impulses for integration and that would strengthen solidarity among the nations and states on our continent. That is the most effective barrier to nationalism and populism that has the tendency to regain ground in times of crises.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our understanding of security and stability is wider than just military. It has its economic, social and cultural dimensions. That is the philosophy we share with our partners in the EU and apply in our policies towards third countries. Our effort is aimed at resolving not just the immediate, but also structural roots of conflicts. This understanding of security leads our efforts in our neighbourhood – in particular in the Western Balkans as well as in the countries of Eastern Partnership.

In this context, we should not forget that the process of European integration is still unaccomplished. There are still nations in our eastern, south-eastern, and even northern (Iceland) neighbourhood that aspire for their place in our common European home and transatlantic community of democratic nations. They need our help.

Slovakia received a similar support in previous years. We look forward to Croatia joining us in the EU soon and we hope the enlargement process will continue.

On the other hand, the most important role in the process is played by the aspirant countries – we can advise and advocate, but they have to perform. Our experience shows that reforms do pay off. This is the key message we try to get across to our partners in the Western Balkans or in countries of the Eastern Partnership.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In a more global scale, Slovak engagement in Afghanistan is our major activity in supporting international crisis management operations and missions. Our contribution to ISAF is still the largest among operations and missions we participate in. We will step up our effort to help the Afghan authorities to successfully complete the process of transition.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Individual national options and opportunities of Central European states to contribute to influencing European and even world affairs are limited. Cooperation with our neighbours in all areas of common interest presents the top priority of my government. Therefore as a mean of moving these relations to even higher level than before, my government introduces the mechanism of joint meetings of governments with neighbouring countries. We have accomplished such intergovernmental meetings already with our Czech and Polish friends and we are preparing similar meetings with Austria and Hungary.

Cooperation in the framework of the Visegrad group has played a central role in developing regional cooperation in Central Europe. Together we have already achieved a lot but there is much more that needs and can be done. Therefore I’m glad to see that there is also a lot of political will to continue and deepen our cooperation.

Last year, I asked why the V4 couldn’t be at the forefront of the smart defence efforts. Since then our experts from both governmental and non-governmental sectors made a lot of good work and moved us closer not only to the formation of the Visegrad EU Battlegroup which is expected to be on stand-by in the first half of 2016. They have as well identified a number of options how to make our cooperation even deeper, more systematic and thus more beneficial for all of us.

The lack of natural energy sources in Central Europe and our dependence on import highlights the importance of energy security as an area of cooperation and common interests. Learning lessons from the January 2009 gas crisis we are working on North-South interconnectors with all our neighbours that will diversify routes for energy sources and thus strengthen the security of the whole Central European region.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Looking at this year’s Global security forum agenda I’m happy to see that you will discuss and hopefully try to find answers on relevant issues of concern for the central European region and the transatlantic cooperation. I wish you fruitful deliberations and look forward to hearing the conclusions from the conference.