The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic appreciates the calm and transparent course of the Ukrainian parliamentary elections that were held in compliance with international standards.

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic on the situation in Ukraine.

We are disappointed and shocked by the recurrent wave of violence in Ukraine that has cost lives of several people. We call on all stakeholders to take a moderate approach; we expect the state authorities to respect the freedom of assembly.
The forceful confrontation cannot be an instrument of a political struggle in modern Europe.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák met with his Maltese counterpart George Vella, who was accompanying the President of the Republic of Malta, George Abela, during his official visit to Slovakia.

During the official visit of President of the Republic of Malta George Abela to Slovakia, both countries signed two bilateral agreements: Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Malta and Protocol on Cooperation between the Centre for International Legal Protection of Children and Juveniles of the Slovak Republic and the Department of Social Standards of the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity of the Republic of Malta concerning cooperation in international adoptions.
President Ivan Gašparovič appreciated the friendliness of relations between the two countries at all levels.

The Foreign Ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia were shocked by the news that clashes between protesters and riot police resulted in casualties in Kyiv.
We strongly condemn the killing of demonstrators which cannot be justified by any reason.
Ukraine has been witnessing a permanent and deepening internal political crisis for the past two months.

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic received the information concerning the deaths of three demonstrators in Kiev after the intervention of the Ukrainian armed forces with indignation and dismay. We call on all the actors in the protests to refrain from violence. We call on the Ukrainian authorities and all other stakeholders to respect the rights to citizens to assemble. Violence does not solve problems. We are convinced that dialogue, and not a forcible confrontation, will lead to the resolution of the situation and we warn against taking any steps that would mean a further escalation in violence.

According to the amendment to the Act on Reporting Citizens Residencies approved by Slovak Parliament on May 16, all Slovak citizens and foreign citizens resident in Slovakia will be obliged to declare to the state authorities prior to their departure any absence longer than 90 days. Anyone who fails to notify the authorities will be guilty of an offense and may face a penalty. The amendment will enter into force on July 1, 2013.

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic is preparing the change to the mechanism of statement formulation to EU legislation. This reform aims at evaluating the existing procedures and amending the cooperation among ministries and Parliament. The current mechanism has been in force for nine years and was updated for the last time in 2007.

While Slovakia has a standard legal framework to support integrity, implementation is lacking. The Police Force, Judiciary, President, and Public Procurement Office have scored the lowest and are thus considered to be the weakest institutions in Slovakia.

The economic freedom in Slovakia worsened last year, the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom released by the Heritage Foundation says. Slovakia dropped two spots from last year while its overall score has decreased by 0.2 point, mainly as a result of declines in freedom from corruption and property rights. A year ago the country gained 0.3 points.