The European Union's current challenges, Slovakia's struggling healthcare system, the quality of schools and the fight against corruption dominated President Andrej Kiska's annual state of the nation speech addressed to Parliament on Thursday. He believes Slovakia is ready for the upcoming presidency of the EU Council, which he called a great honour and opportunity. He added that there is no better alternative than being a member of the EU and although there are flaws in Brussels' policies they don't occur any more than those in the Slovak Parliament. Andrej Kiska also named some of the biggest problems in Slovak domestic policy.
"These days, corruption is the hottest topic. I want to emphasize that if Slovakia goes on like this, we will have to deal with very serious consequences. In your opinion how many ordinary people think that law enforcement agencies and tax authorities are independent to do their job and are not subject to any pressure, political or otherwise? And how many believe that we can rely on these agencies?" said the president.
Kiska called on people to fight against conspiracy theories that are spread online and he also expressed his concerns about decreased trust in politicians. "If people won't get a reason to restore their trust in the state and its institutions, there might be no chance of creating a government out of democratic parties after the next elections", said Kiska, warning the government that it should not believe that there is no better alternative to it.
Andrej Kiska didn't forget to call for reforms in the education and healthcare systems and introduced his vision how Slovakia should regain its self-confidence: "A small and flexible country with a clear support of creative industries and innovations". The president concluded his speech highlighting that the state should be the number one example in showing respect to its citizens. Parliament's Chairman Andrej Danko said the speech made a positive impression on him. Opposition MPs praised the President as being courageous and displaying a pro-European approach in his speech.
