German Foreign Affairs Minister Sigmar Gabriel sees Slovakia as a country which is able to present and explain arguments in a way which is palatable to new EU member states, in particular with issues that tend to leave the "old" and "new" EU members not seeing eye to eye. He stated that the country acts like a bridge between Western Europe and the new member states of the European Union. As the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes, this was stated by the German minister in his address during a reception at the Slovak Embassy in Berlin last week.
The Minister also spoke of the Velvet Divorce, saying this peaceful separation between the Czech Republic and Slovakia was unique and he appreciated the extremely close and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries to this day. On the topic of economic co-operation he joked that "If it was not for Slovakia, We'd probably have no cars on German roads today".
At the reception, Slovak Ambassador to Germany Peter Lizák presented awards on behalf of the Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs to three personalities for extraordinary merit in the development of friendly relations between the Germany and the Slovak Republic.
At the event, which included members of the Bundestag, Ambassador Peter Lizák highlighted the success story of Slovakia in its 25 years of independence. According to the Ambassador, the vision of Slovakia as an independent and full member of the European Union has strongly influenced positive development in Slovakia, and that Slovakia wishes to remain at the heart of the process of shaping the EU's future.
