The Slovak presidential candidate supports Viktor Orbán's position on the war and is grateful that the president of the Hungarian party in the highlands also supports him in the second round.

Peter Pellegrini, the second-strongest party in the three-party Slovak government coalition, the presidential candidate of the Hang (Hlas-SD) believes that they can gradually solve the problems with the Hungarian community in Slovakia in such a way that "coexistence is problem-free and friendly", as when he was the prime minister.

In an interview published on the current channel M1 on Wednesday evening, the president of the Bratislava legislature also emphasized that he is convinced that the good relations between the Hungarian and Slovak governments serve as a good basis for the good coexistence of the two nations.

This has always been the case: when the Slovak Prime Minister maintained good relations with the Hungarian Prime Minister, the coexistence of the two nations was completely tension-free, and certain things progressed, he pointed out.

The politician emphasized: "we must honestly take care of the Hungarian community".

Peter Pellegrini said: Slovakia needs a president for whom the country comes first, "and who will not allow them to dictate from Brussels, without being able to say how we imagine Europe to work."

We will not allow them to take away our right of veto, and the president should talk about peace, not war, he said.

Peter Pellegrini spoke about how the results in the first round of the presidential election were very close, and the other candidate was able to get very valuable votes. He indicated that he expects the result to be very close in the second round as well, but he believes in victory.

The politician is very happy that he can also get votes from those who did not make it to the second round, and he thanked Krisztián Forró, the president of the Hungarian party in the highlands, the Hungarian Alliance, who publicly declared that he would support him.

Peter Pellegrini said that he and Krisztián Forró had a friendly, constructive discussion and agreed that all regions of Slovakia should be taken care of.

No one can be punished because of which part of Slovakia they were born in, every part of Slovakia needs a high-quality standard of living and infrastructure, he stated, emphasizing:

this also applies to the southern part of the country, where the Hungarian minority lives.

At the meeting, they also talked about the need to deal with the law on national minorities, as well as the issue of dual citizenship, which needs to be changed at some point, he explained. He added that they also talked about collective guilt, "for which some kind of final solution must be gradually found after several decades".

According to Peter Pellegrini, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Korcok - who finished in first place in the first round of the Slovak presidential elections - "only talks" about the regions catching up.

"On the other hand, we are doing realistic things," said the politician, and then continued: Ivan Korcok was a member of the government that caused chaos in Slovakia, indebted the country in an unprecedented way.

Nothing was done for the Hungarian communities, stated Peter Pellegrini,

then he said: they accepted cross-border cooperation, opened several border crossings, built new bridges on the Ipoly River. Not so long ago, another bridge connecting Slovakia and Hungary was opened with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, Pellegrini recalled.

The candidate also spoke about the fact that a law was passed on the bilingual naming of villages, and traffic signs will also be bilingual.

The politician also spoke about the fact that the president and the prime minister must be properly aware that their country is indeed a member of an international community such as the European Union and NATO. At the same time, they must protect the national interests and citizens of Slovakia during the negotiations, he said, emphasizing that regulations that harm the country should not be approved.

He also mentioned that he does not consider Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's statements and attitude to be nationalist in nature. "I take it that this is the attitude of a prime minister who represents the interests of Hungary," said the politician.

In connection with the war in Ukraine, Peter Pellegrini stated: Slovakia will not deliver weapons, will not participate in the joint purchase of ammunition, because that will only prolong the killing. The killing must be stopped immediately, and then a peaceful solution to the conflict must be negotiated, he declared.

He said he agrees with the attitude of Viktor Orbán, who will not send any soldiers to Ukraine.

Regarding the Visegrád four (V4), he spoke about how it hurts that certain member countries are doing everything to prevent the V4 from working. At the same time, he believes that they can gradually return to "good functioning", said Peter Pellegrini, adding that if he is elected, he will try to strengthen the V4.

In connection with Hungarian-Slovak cooperation, he touched on the fact that the north-south projects must be continued. He cited the interconnection of energy systems, industrial and commercial programs, and border protection as examples.

Peter Pellegrini said: there are always people who "want to break" the good coexistence of Slovaks and Hungarians. However, he is convinced that if the cooperation between the governments is good, there will be no problems between the two countries.

MTI

Cover photo: Viktor Orbán with Peter Pellegrini in the Carmelite monastery
Source: Facebook/Viktor Orbán