President: We Run Country from Election to Election, We Lack Durable Priorities

Bratislava, December 22 (TASR) - Slovakia's long-term problem, which hinders its development more than the lack of resources, is the discontinuity in the implementation of long-term strategic plans, President Peter Pellegrini stated in an interview on TASR TV. Each government, the head of state said, tends to scrap the projects of the previous one. "We haven't been able to agree in key areas on a programme that goes beyond one-two-three electoral terms and where governments respect the priorities of this programme regardless of their political spectrum," pointed out Pellegrini. According to the president, if each minister cancels the projects of their predecessor and starts implementing their own idea during the term of office, the result is that nothing will be completed. "We're running the country from election to election and that is why other countries that can take ambitious decisions are ahead of us," he stated. Poland, for example, has made significant progress over the past ten years by implementing long-term infrastructure projects. "It is ahead of us in infrastructure, in decisions on high-speed railways to connect Poland's three largest cities, on the completion of motorways," pointed out the president. Pellegrini sees it as positive that the government has made significant strategic decisions in the energy sector, but he'd expect the ability to launch long-term projects in other areas as well. "If the government can take the ambitious decision that we're going to build two more units at the nuclear power plant in Jaslovske Bohunice (Trnava region), why don't we have such an ambitious plan to complete water and sewage systems in all municipalities in the coming years?" asked Pellegrini. am