Jan Maria Rokita - member of the Polish Parliament, (former head of the Polish Governmental Office in Hana Suchocka's government), member of the Conservative-People's Party, member of the Electoral action 'Solidarita' Parliamentary Caucus, Committee for Administration and the Interior Chairman, Director of the Public Administration Reforms Programme at the Institute of Public Issues, spoke about his opinions about reviving the Visegrad-Four and the Slovak-Polish cooperation.

What is the Polish-Slovak inter-parliamentary cooperation like?

In Poland, a Polish-Slovak inter-parliamentary group is effective, however, there has been no such group operating in Slovakia so far. As far as I know, it is being established now. The work of this group on the Polish side was limited by the lack of the Slovak counterpart.

In 1998, the will to revive the Visegrad Four came into life. What is your vision of the revitalized Visegrad Four like?

I am skeptical in this regard. I doubt the possibility to do the same mistake twice. If we manage to do something within the V-4 it will be good. If we do not succeed in it, it will not be a tragedy. It is up to the Slovak politicians as to how are they going to use the meeting of V-4 premiers due to take place in Bratislava. After all, the Slovak Premier is to meet three premiers of NATO member states! If the Slovaks are successful, they can use this occasion as a manifestation of the support of three countries to Slovakia. Poland manifested its favour to Slovakia several times, but I am not sure as to whether this cooperation should take place just within the V-4. We can make it by ourselves and it is necessary to use the potential we have at our disposal especially because in our mutual cooperation, there will be nobody but us who will set the conditions.

How does the cooperation of Euro-regions in Poland look like?

We have only moderate experience with Euro-regions on the eastern side, their level is especially political and propagandistic. The investments to this field were very low. Another problem was the fact that the self-administrations were effective only on the Polish side. Similar situation was also at the Polish-Slovak border. Currently, there is the political conjuncture which has to be used. It is also necessary to find solutions to legal problems on the Slovak side (Slovak Euro-regions were not independent legal subjects) and to obtain finances from the European Union. Perfect cooperation is the one we have with Germans. Three or four Euro-regions at the Polish-German border contributed to much easier life of their inhabitants. They make use of the huge aid from the European Union granted to former eastern Germany.

How do you perceive the decision on changing the Slovak system electing the president?

I do not quite understand why after the changes which took place in your country, the Slovaks did the greatest mistake (the same we did) - changed their electoral system and decided on direct presidential election. The president is elected by a majority completely different from that electing the parliament. Moreover, both of the constituents have the right to govern since they were decided on by a direct election. The reality is that every courageous decision of the government has to face a counteraction of the president. It will be the same also in Slovakia.

How do you assess the changes after the September 1998 general election in Slovakia?

The Slovak general election made us enthusiastic and Premier Dzurinda is currently the most positive foreign figure for the Polish press. We repose a great hope to the Slovak development. However, the point is to make the declarations expressed on both sides as early as four months ago, reality. Little time passed in order to be able to assess it, but if both governments do not use this chance in the months to come, the enthusiasm may vanish.

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