STANDPOINT

TO THE DECISION NOT TO INVITE THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC
TO ASSOCIATION TALKS WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION

Coexistence has always stood for the earliest possible integration of the Slovak Republic into the European Union.

A narrowed perception of geopolitical potentialities and security of the state, the fiasco of the foreign policy, the re-centralization of power, the contra-productive actions and disregard of the vital interests of the inhabitants of the Slovak Republic by the government coalition yield a fatal crop: Slovakia was not invited to NATO and in the nearest future is not calculated with by the European Union either.

The reiterated warnings of Coexistence have been confirmed:

• the questionable democracy of different institutions,
• the questionable existence of a constitutional state,
• the permanent restriction of minority rights leading even to clear ethnic discrimination and xenophobia in the Slovak Republic.

Due to the mentioned political reasons - including the unfulfilment of the promise given to the European Union and to the High Commissioner of the OSCE to pass a bill on the language use of national minorities - Slovakia was omitted from the list of countries invited in the first round to join the EU.

The attitude charcteristic of the present government, the conceited and demagogic argumentation saying nothing has been missed does not change the fact that the Slovak Republic was excluded form among the undisputable candidates for European integration to those not being mentioned for joining.

The government is hence responsible

• to the parliament for failing to fulfil its government programme
• to the future generations of Slovakia for its short-sighted, non-perspective, greedy activities, for the deteriorating future conditions of life.

The conception of democracy as "the democracy of the majority", i.e. the dictate of majority by the government coalition is a democracy of an early stage leading to a centrifugal plural democracy excluding all the opposition forces from the political influencing of the events in the country. The "democracy" exercised in Slovakia and criticized by Coexistence is not acceptable for the European Union.

The refusal of the plurality of opinions in a society on the eve of the 21st century, the exclusion of the participation and of the interests of all the parliamentary parties in decision-taking in Slovakia is not only incompatible with the conception of democracy of Coexistence based on consensus but also unacceptable for the European Union.

Only a new Slovak government will be able to redeem the international credibility (lost by present government) by its transparent and verifiable steps and to bring back the multinational Slovakia to its specific geopolitical role: to be affiliated to NATO and EU.

The government has led the country to a situation from which it cannot find the way out. We consider the resignation of the present government - after so serious failures - its moral duty.

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