Slovakia is slowly falling under the spell of the papal visit, which leaves its mark on political statements.
In his latest statement, former Slovak foreign minister Eduard Kukan tries to overemphasize the importance of Pope Francis spending more time in Slovakia than in Hungary, using a rare childish logic. Moreover, he believes that while the Vatican does not agree with Hungary, Slovakia can collect good points. It is particularly interesting that the papal visit is already being congratulated by the head of state Zuzana Čaputová and the Slovak foreign ministry - despite the fact that both the head of state and the minister of foreign affairs are liberals, so they are not patrons of the Christian value system - writes the Upland korkep.sk .
Speaking to the Slovak news agency TASR, Kukan said that "Pope Francis' planned visit to Hungary and then to Slovakia clearly indicates the Vatican's disapproval of Budapest's policy". He believes that Slovakia can score good foreign policy points thanks to the situation.
According to Kukan, his visit can lend more political weight to Slovakia and result in respect and moral recognition in the world, especially in Christian communities. According to him, Slovak diplomacy and the head of state Zuzana Čaputová played a decisive role in convincing the Pope to visit Slovakia.
The Pope will concelebrate the closing mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress (INEC), after which he will arrive in Slovakia. Previously, it was questionable whether he would meet Hungary's leading politicians - the liberal press had been munching on this topic for a long time. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán previously recalled that Pope Francis' position on migration is radically different from that of the Hungarian government.
However, according to the Pope's program, he will also meet with Viktor Orbán and Hungarian President János Áder.
The foreign minister of the Dzurinda government, who then strengthened the ranks of the liberal SDKÚ, also recently took a stand against Hungary. Most recently, in March, during the government crisis, he publicly stood by Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok (SaS), who caused hysteria in connection with Péter Szijjártó's visit to Komárom - let's remember, for domestic political intrigues.
They are taking part in the liberal witch hunt
Now, with the above statements, Kukan claims nothing less than that Slovakia is using the papal visit for liberal propaganda purposes and that Bratislava is riding the international pressure against Budapest for its own political goals. Moreover, he stated all of this in such a way that he also dismissed the interests of his own country with famous simplicity.
Among other things, Slovakia did not become a close enemy in the eyes of the West in 2015 because Hungary largely took on the migration battle instead of it (and many other countries as well). If he had not done so, the left-wing government at the time, which was suffering from corruption cases, would have been easily transferred to the group of countries supporting migration quotas (after the appointment of Pellegrini as Prime Minister, the Slovak position could be seen to soften).
Kukan is apparently a supporter of the same politics as Ivan Korčok. According to Korčok, Slovakia should only stand up for the V4s if its interests so desire, and not on other issues. This makes Slovakia once again the weakest link in the Visegrad chain.
Regarding the role of the foreign minister and the head of state, it is worth adding that they hardly had the interests of the Christian communities in mind (they do not belong to that political-ideological group), rather they just wanted to take their part in the liberal witch hunt against Hungary, so that the Kukan exchange them for the mentioned good points.
Source: korkep.sk
Photo: MTI/AP/Gregorio Borgia