Vladimír Mečiar
Vladimír Mečiar (born 26 July 1942) is a Slovak former politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from June 1990 to May 1991, June 1992 to March 1994, and again from December 1994 to October 1998. He led Slovakia during the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 & 1993 and was one of the leading presidential candidates in Slovakia in 1999 and 2004. During his time in office, he was criticized for his autocratic style of governance and connections to organized crime.
Quotes
[edit]"Speech made to Council of Europe Assembly" (1996)
[edit]- We have arrived as free among the free, equal among the equal, in the name of humanity, the best values of mankind, in the interest of the rights of man, a nation, a state. We confirm our interest in participating in the building of a new Europe with shared values of democracy, human rights and freedom, while respecting the right for an individual path towards the achievement of these values.
- Our ancestors developed a powerful state from the sixth to the ninth century. The first diocese in central and eastern Europe was situated in our territory. It was here that patron saints of Europe, St Cyril and St Methodius were engaged in their proselytising activities, and Christianity spread further to the east as a result. Our forefathers’ language was recognised as the fourth liturgical language. I do not want to lecture on history, but rather to suggest that if Europe is now developing for the second millennium under Christian influence, then we have always been an integral part of that process.
- The many years of struggle between ideas of collectivism and individualism return us to the original values of Christianity and humanism. In practice, we have succeeded in defending our way, the Slovak way, of transformation of society.
- The protection of the rights of people belonging to national minorities should not be confused with the nurturing of nationalism on the part of minorities, or efforts towards irredentism, language ghettoisation and separation. Two different standards should not be applied for the assessment of the protection of human and civil rights.
- Democracy is a way of life and a way of thinking rather than just law and institutions. There are no alternatives to it. We apply the experience of advanced democracies to our condition and to historical evolution. What matters at present is the instruments for the development of democracy rather than the fundamental character of democracy itself. Development of democracy is a never-ending process of getting acquainted with social evolution and relations.
- Quite often, I am asked what is the most difficult task I have had to solve in my life. Life has taught me the lesson that it is only the tasks that we have not yet dealt with which can be much more difficult than the ones we have already resolved.
"Vladimír Mečiar: 1989 was 'beautiful'" (1999)
[edit]- "Vladimír Mečiar: 1989 was 'beautiful'" in The Slovak Spectator (1999)
- As for developments in Slovakia it must be said that Slovaks wanted change. But not everywhere. People were cautious because they were afraid or didn't know what the future held. They wanted a change, but had misgivings about what would be next. To a certain extent, the communists helped the revolution a lot because they left their offices and their duties freely, preventing conflict. Their power collapsed from within.
- There are two kinds of freedom. The first is freedom around me, and the second is freedom inside me. I've always felt freedom inside and valued myself, never allowing anyone to take it. I was freer with a shovel than someone who had a high position.
"Vladimír Mečiar: "The hens aren't laying eggs"" (1999)
[edit]- "Vladimír Mečiar: "The hens aren't laying eggs"" in The Slovak Spectator (6 December 1999)
- If I want to have a political career, I have to work on my image. I am not willing to do this. I ask myself if what is written about me is really true or if my deeds were different. I am confident that what I did is different than most of what was written. But to a certain extent I think that the countries that gave me a bad image are covering up a peculiar quality they have - an inability to work with people who have alternate and independent views.
- My only regret is that my dream for a prosperous Slovakia, where good wins over evil, is a dream without an end for me. This makes me sorry. I really regret that many people never understood that I always served them, I never knew of anything different besides their interests. Many people don't speak about my accomplishments but rather attack my personality so they can hide their own weakness.
- The fact that we had been in power for a long time meant that we had fought hard against the communists, whom we continually pressed. We came to blows with those who didn't want an independent Slovakia. We fought with parties who didn't share our view for economic and social transforamtion.
- I wouldn't say that 'countries' judged us. Rather, there were economic groups involved in energy, gas and banking that I didn't allow to take part in privatisation because it was simply not in the interest of the state at that time. There were also political groups who wanted to have, in every government, people from whom they knew what to expect. They don't very much like people from whom they don't know what to expect. I'd also say that Western politicians are suspicious of charismatic leaders who appeal to a large number of voters at home.
- The second moment was when we Slovaks rose from life as a nationality to become a real, living country, and that we built the foundation for globalisation, which means that Slovakia will join the international community. Nobody before me for 1,000 years was able to accomplish this. This incredible historical moment is, as always in Slovakia, the subject of much hate and love. To a certain degree, this historical fact complicates my life terribly.
Quotes about Vladimír Mečiar
[edit]- Slovakia did several things well. It attracted foreign investors with innovative tax and other incentives. And it made important geopolitical friends, especially by backing the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq, and by instituting reforms to meet EU criteria. Both of these steps helped it integrate into international structures that give disproportionately large opportunity to small countries. Fortunately, Meciar was voted out early enough for his successors to turn his achievement into one that truly benefited his countrymen.
- Rick Zednik, "A Mutually Velvet Divorce" in The New York Times (2012)
