The new SR administration seems to have started a new campaign of intensive official visits between Slovakia and the European countries. No wonder, there is a lot to catch up on... The successful intensification of the mutual relations of the SR with the EU/NATO countries should be assisted also through Parliamentary visits.

A delegation of the SR National Council representatives, Slovak Members of the Parliamentary Union, lead by Jozef Migaš, the Parliament Leader, visited the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 24-29 January. This visit was initiated by the Leaders of both Houses of Parliament who are Honorary Deputy Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Union. On the visiting team were the Parliament Members F. Šebej, P. Kresák, S. Bartoš, A. Duka-Zolyomi, and V. Oberhauser. The aim of the visit was to collect knowledge on work and experience of the British Parliament, and about performance and position of self-administrating bodies. J. Migaš informed the British partners about completed and planned reforms in Slovakia intended to comply with the EU accession criteria, namely to re-qualify of the SR into the first group of associated countries at the Helsinki EU summit.

The SR Parliament Members met with many top British political and social life representatives. Especially significant were official meetings and unofficial discussions with Betty Boothroyd, House of Commons Leader, and Lord Irvine of Laird, Supreme Court Justice of England and Wales and Minister of Justice. They also spoke with J. Quin, Minister of State for Europe at the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, D. Anderson, House of Commons Foreign Committee Chairman, J. Cummings, British-Czech-Slovak Parliamentary Group Chairman and Parliament members of this Group, D. Marshal, British Parliamentary Union Chairman, representatives of the East European Trade Council, and Corporation of London. The round-table debate was also attended by British-Slovak PU Parliament members and representatives of the press and political science of the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe lead by J. Birch, who commented the discussion by saying that "Slovakia having missed one train to the EU will probably take care not to miss the next..."