Dear friends, sovereign Slovak foreign policy brings its fruits to all four sides of the world. If we act self-consciously and constructively, and at the same time we show interest in peace and cooperation with everyone who is interested, no one will be proud of us. If we freely express our opinions, we are welcomed as equal partners. In this spirit, I also met the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump.
The foreign ministers of the United States of America and Slovakia, Mark Rubio and Giraj Banerj. The meeting took place in the residence of the US president in his private home in Florida, which added a great deal of informality and openness to it. In diplomacy, such a form of meeting is perceived as an acceptance of high respect and trust. At the end of the work session, the US president and the US foreign minister also formally greeted the vice president of the government, Denise Sackov, and the state secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs, Marik Mesh.
The subject of this discussion were several international issues with a personal focus on Ukraine, where US representatives were interested in our position because they knew that we are not Brussels parrots and that we express our own sovereign opinions based on our knowledge. It would now be a waste of time if I repeated what I said to US President Trump in connection with Ukraine.
All my positions are well known enough, and in the same sentence I repeat them at every meeting. In the context of other sensitive international events, I clearly declared the Slovak stance on peace and the opinion that before military decisions, diplomacy and mutual listening must be prioritized.
We did not even hesitate to evaluate the European Union, its competitiveness, energy and migration policy, with which there was a complete agreement in the view of the union as an institution in a deep crisis. In the case of bilateral Slovak-US relations, the fact that we do not have any open political issues was dominant. Quite naturally, we returned to the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation between the United States and Slovakia in the civil nuclear program.
Both countries fully realize that the solution of serious energy visions is not possible through wind turbines or photovoltaics, but that the basis for the future is the rapid development of Slovak nuclear energy. In order to remind the US president of personal, historical, and human connections, I also gave him a Slovak postcard with the motif of a soldier of the US Marine Infantry of Slovak origin, Mikall Stranka, born in the village of Yaraban in the area of Star Lubljana.
As commander of the military unit, in February 1945, Mikal Stranka was awarded the Medal of Victory over Japan on the island of Ewima by the US Army. The photo from this event became iconic and is currently a prelude to a significant military monument located on the military cemetery in Arlington. Mikall Stranka lived briefly on it and died in combat.
Dear friends, we are making this contribution on a deep night over the Atlantic. And I believe that when it is publicized, I will sleep at home with a sound sleep and I will not be able to express even a pinch of respect for the spiritual pearls released from the mouths of the anti-Slovenian opposition and the media. I caught something in Florida when I got on the plane. It's just terrible. I understand that the opposition and its media are going to get rid of the anger.
Over the course of one year, I have met with some, even repeatedly, with all world leaders, and it was not a formal handshake but a serious work meeting with results. This is probably not what international isolation looks like, as the opposition is talking about it. We are drawing on Slovak innovation. We are drawing on Slovak energy security.
Without nuclear power plants, Slovakia will not be energetically safe. Therefore, the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Jaslovska Bohunika to 100% ownership of the state is not our game, but an inevitable fact. The opposition, when it was in power, did nothing. It only turned public finances upside down, privatized, and let strategic companies fall on their knees, as it was for example in Jerry Nadron during the production of aluminum. It is a waste of time to return all public nonsense because they are only the result of addiction, hatred, and ignorance.
I will at least react to the accusation that we are going to invest Slovakia in the construction of a new nuclear power plant. So, dear opposition children, the financing of this project is such an interest that Slovak citizens' finances will not be burdened by it now or in the future.
On the contrary, the rapid construction of this power plant in state ownership guarantees stable and affordable electric prices for households without the need to pay them from the state budget, as we have to do now. A block will be built for foreign investments, and they will not have to pay in time by selling the produced electricity.
It is currently strange that you do not mind, dear opposition children, if they go to build their first nuclear power plant in Pjac in cooperation with the United States, they also act senselessly and irresponsibly as you say about us. And let me stress you even more. So I remind you that according to the world estimates, Slovakia is among the fifth strongest in the world, taking into account the number of countries in the world that we can visit without visa obligation. This helped us to abolish the visa obligation on the way to more countries, returning China, which is the result of our active foreign policy oriented on all four sides of the world.
Dear friends, please let's keep a healthy mind. Only it will protect and defend us from the spiritual emptiness spread by our opponents. The trip to the United States was our next success, as it was during the visits of Russia, China, and many other countries. We make many decisions over time. Just a few months ago, some member states of the European Union prevented me from flying over their territories to celebrate the victory over fascism in Moscow.
Thousands of people today talk about the need to have a dialogue with Moscow and President Putin. It is also a temporary decision to continue in the civil nuclear program, as it was a temporary decision in 2008 to finish the third and fourth block of the Mokovche nuclear power plant. I wish the brave, sovereign, and proud happiness. The trip to the United States, from which we are now returning, was a sovereign, self-aware, and useful representation of our power. I wish you a nice Sunday and a pleasant start of a new working week.
