Political ceremonies
Politicians are too fond of basking in the sun at ribbon cuttings. But what happened on Monday on the Ipoly border river is rare: a bridge between Hungary and Slovakia was inaugurated for the second time in just a few weeks.
In mid-January, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó attended a number of appointments in Nógrád County, one item on the program was the official handover of the new Ipoly Bridge between Drégelypalánk and Ipolyhídvég (Ipelské Predmostie). The majority of Hungarians live on both sides of the border, for whom the 7.5 million euro project will bring enormous relief. Despite the official inauguration, the bridge remained closed to vehicle traffic, as the was able to find out. Hopefully this will change after the second attempt to consecrate the bridge.
On Monday, former Prime Minister and current Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini and Investment Minister Richard Rasi traveled from the Slovakian capital Bratislava to once again put the Ipoly Bridge in the headlines together with Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. János Hunyadi ordered the river crossing in the 15th century, but the Second World War destroyed the bridge for decades. Today, Hungary and Slovakia are connected by a total of 40 bridges along the approximately 650 km long shared border section.
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