Čaputová defends liberalism in Budapest
During her inaugural visit to neighbouring Hungary, the Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová called on the Visegrád states to support the values of the EU and to respect the rule of law. The Slovak media are full of praise.
Plain but subtle words
Čaputová was certainly very candid, Pravda writes:
“She described their view of the EU as one of the biggest differences between the two countries. Slovakia knows from its own experience that citizens stand to gain more from integration rather than a transferral of powers back to individual states, she said. She also signalled that liberal democracy, which guarantees everyone equal rights, offers the best protection for all the minorities living in Slovakia. ... She thus defended the official positions of the EU, of which Slovakia and Hungary are both full members. Despite her pointed indirect criticism of Orbán and his chimera of 'illiberal democracy', she was nonetheless more subtle than Budapest's critics in Brussels, Berlin and Paris.”
A star in the European sky
Dennik N praises the Slovak president's strategy:
“Fundamentally Čaputová is only doing what she had already done during the presidential election campaign: speaking openly, without being afraid to say how she sees things. And she does so in an intelligent and disarming way. She defends the values of liberal democracy, which the Hungarian prime minister has succeeded in destroying, and criticises the detrimental approach of the V4 countries, which they most recently pursued in the game of poker over EU appointments. ... With performances like the one in Budapest on Thursday, the probability grows that Čaputová's star will shine ever more brightly in the European sky.”