More than 140 speakers and 1,200 participants, these are the figures linked to the Globsec international security forum which is taking place in Bratislava until Saturday, 19th May. The main topic is the influence that new technologies are having on politics. Conference participants are discussing the impact of social media and access to personal information. According to secret service organisations, these factors played a key role in decisions made by voters e.g. in the Brexit referendum or in the latest US elections.
Slovak President Andrej Kiska sees as a problem for both central Europe and the countries outside this region the unscrupulous policy leading to the aggressive implementation of selfish interests and the violation of international law prevailing over the values of freedom and democracy.
"The unscrupulous policy has been pulling the entire Central European region backwards," he said, adding that not even positive economic growth would overcome shortcomings in democracy and in unselfish national interests that threaten the European project. "There is no alternative to the EU and NATO," the Slovak President stated.
International institutions, including the United Nations, must experience a renaissance in multilateralism and come closer to people, said the Foreign Minister and President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajčák (a Smer-SD nominee) during his speech. In his opinion, this can be achieved using a cultural shift. He believes that in this respect, it is therefore necessary to change "how we talk to each other". "Dialogue is at the heart of multilateralism ... and we should dust it off and start using it. Do we talk just to talk? Are we talking just for the sake of appearances, or do we really want to resolve something?" asked Lajčák.
According to Jaroslav Naď from the Slovak Security Policy Institute, the influence of new technologies can be seen also in Slovakia with lots of fake news, lies and hoaxes spread before the different types of elections as well as open support for extremists and anti-system political parties.
