Ukraine's EU accession will help develop Slovakia's border regions – ex-minister

Former Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad believes that Ukraine's accession to the European Union would spur economic growth in Slovakia's eastern regions.

He expressed this opinion in an interview with Ukrinform.

"If the EU is enlarged with Ukraine, the cooperation between the regions of Sobrance or Michalovce in Slovakia on the border with Ukraine with the regions of Uzhhorod or Lviv would raise the potential immediately. The cooperation would be significant, and the economic results will be very visible immediately," Nad said.

He cited Eastern Austria as an example, which was one of the least developed regions before Slovakia joined the European Union.

"It was actually at the end of the road. And there was Slovakia there – no EU, no NATO member, no economic ties. So the development in this part of Austria was very low. Immediately, when Slovakia joined the EU, cooperation between Eastern Austria and Western Slovakia started to rise. There was an economic growth. Infrastructure, projects, even cultural cooperation. And now this region of Eastern Austria is one of the most developed ones in Austria, maybe after Vienna. So this is actually what we see as a potential for Eastern Slovakia," the former minister said.

Speaking about specific bilateral projects that he believes are promising, Nad said: "What I see is that the potential of projects that Fico agreed with Prime Minister Shmyhal is actually low. It's not enough. I mean the projects are good but not enough. There are many other areas where we should cooperate, and EU and NATO membership would lead to significant cooperation in many areas."

He added that it is worth launching as many projects as possible "in energy, transportation, including the use of Uzhhorod Airport, which by the way is just 100 meters from our border."