On Friday, president Zuzana Čaputová started her trip to the USA on Friday by attending a gala dinner at Globsec in New York dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the end of totalitarianism in Central Europe. She spoke about the polarization of society in the West, the loss of confidence both within states and between nations, and challenges to liberal values.  

In her speech, she mentioned the era of prime minister Vladimír Mečiar, who, in her opinion, showed how fragile a young democracy can be. “It turned out that when people stayed silent, the decisions of just a few people could capture the whole state,” she said. For Slovakia, at that time, the “wake-up call” was not being invited to join NATO together with its neighbours and the naming of the country as the “black hole of Europe”.      

“We know today that it was an honest message and a signal that you cared about us,” Čaputová told an international audience at the Bohemian National Hall. After Slovakia joined NATO and the EU, 15 years ago, Slovaks “began to take freedom, democracy and the transatlantic alliance as a matter of course, instead of contributing to their improvement”. The president argued that as a consequence there had been an increase in the number of people who felt excluded from society. “People feel that politicians and democracy have let them down, and that their voice is not being heard,” Čaputová said, adding that populists had managed to take the initiative. She expressed concern about the increasing polarisation and division both within societies and between nations, as well as the loss of confidence both in society and in the transatlantic community.      

In this context, she called the European Union “a symbol of everything we lacked under totalitarianism”. She expressed concern that “some voices portray liberal values as a threat to our society”. "Minority rights are perceived as a threat to our core values; decency is considered a weakness. National pride and patriotism are feeding on hatred, isolation and homophobia. Populism presents itself as a way to satisfy citizens’ wishes,” she continued. As she said, she is worried when she hears people calling for national interests to be given priority over shared values. She emphasised that the European Union is not a rival of the USA – “whatever some politicians may say”.      

In her speech, she called for a return to tolerance in the western world, highlighting the spread of armed conflict of trade wars. “We need responsible governments with strong legitimacy based on citizens’ trust, and political leaders who renounce populism and know how to keep their egos under control,” she said. In her view, compromise is not possible if it affects the rule of law or justice, or if “rules fall victim to authoritarian ambitions”. (tasr)