H.E. Mr. Igor Pokojný:

What I like about the EU is that it is not a matter of how big a country is or how many people it has. Instead, we are all equal partners, with the same vote as Germany or France. Slovakia has only a few million people, so we cannot compare based on the number of inhabitants, but we have the same vote. We can vote on what we like and what we do not, and our vote counts equally. Regarding other small countries, and there has been no similar opportunity, more than a year ago, in February 2021, the Ireland-Slovakia Parliamentary Friendship Group was established in the Oireachtas. The only contact we had at the time was during the video conferences. This is the first time I have entered the Oireachtas buildings since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. I am happy to be here. This is an example of our good relations because even during Covid-19, we were able to establish the Ireland-Slovakia Parliamentary Friendship Group. Let us imagine that. It was a time when everything was closed, but we managed it. That means there are very good relations between countries, including between Slovakia and Ireland and with other countries as well.