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U.S. Department of
State, July 2000 Bureau of European Affairs 
Background Note: PROFILE
OFFICIAL NAME: Geography People Government Economy PEOPLE The Slovak constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The majority of
Slovak citizens (60%) practice Roman Catholicism; the second-largest group
are Protestants. About 3,000 Jews remain of the estimated pre-WWII
population of 120,000. The official state language is Slovak, and
Hungarian is widely spoken in the southern region.
Despite its modern European economy and society, Slovakia has a
significant rural element. About 45% of Slovaks live in villages of less
than 5,000 people, and 14% in villages of less than 1,000. HISTORY Although Czechoslovakia was the only east-central European country to
remain a parliamentary democracy from 1918 to 1938, it was plagued with
minority problems, the most important of which concerned the country's
large German population. In 1938, the Allies concluded the Munich
agreement which forced Czechoslovakia to cede the predominantly German
region known as Sudetenland to Germany. Then, in March 1939 Germany
invaded what remained of Bohemia and Moravia and established a German
protectorate. Slovakia had already declared its independence on March 14,
1939, and had become a Nazi German puppet state led by Jozef Tiso.
On August 29, 1944, 60,000 Slovak troops organized by the underground
rose up against the Nazis and the Tiso regime in what became known as the
Slovak National Uprising. Although ultimately unsuccessful, this act of
resistance became an important historical landmark for the Slovaks. At the
close of World War II, Soviet troops overran all of Slovakia, Moravia, and
much of Bohemia.
Reunited after the war, the Czechs and Slovaks held elections in 1946.
In Slovakia, the Democratic Party won the elections, but the Czechoslovak
Communist Party won 38% of the total vote in Czechoslovakia and eventually
seized power, in February 1948. The next four decades were characterized
by strict communist rule, interrupted only briefly in 1968 when Alexander
Dubcek, a Slovak, became party leader. Dubcek proposed political, social,
and economic reforms in his effort to make "socialism with a human
face" a reality. Concern among other Warsaw Pact governments that
Dubcek had gone too far led to the invasion and occupation of
Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, by Soviet, Hungarian, Bulgarian, East
German, and Polish troops. Dubcek was removed as party leader and replaced
by another Slovak, Gustav Husak, in April 1969.
The 1970s and 1980s became known as the period of
"normalization," in which the apologists for the 1968 Soviet
invasion prevented, as best they could, any opposition to their
conservative regime. Political, social, and economic life stagnated.
Because the center of the reform movement had been in Prague,
normalization was less harshly felt in Slovakia. In fact, the Slovak
Republic saw comparatively high economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s
relative to the Czech Republic.
The 1970s were also characterized by the development of a dissident
movement, especially in the Czech Republic. On January l, 1977, more than
250 human rights activists signed a manifesto called Charter 77, which
criticized the government for failing to meet its human rights
obligations.
On November 17, 1989, a series of public protests known as the
"Velvet Revolution" began and led to the downfall of communist
rule in Czechoslovakia. A transition government was formed in December
1989, and the first free elections in Czechoslovakia since 1948 took place
in June 1990. In 1992, negotiations on the new federal constitution
deadlocked over the issue of Slovak autonomy, and in the latter half of
1992, agreement was reached to peacefully divide Czechoslovakia. On
January 1, 1993, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic were
simultaneously and peacefully founded. Both states attained immediate
recognition from the U.S. and their European neighbors. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS In the days following the "Velvet Revolution," Charter 77 and
other groups united to become the Civic Forum, an umbrella group
championing bureaucratic reform and civil liberties. Its leader was the
dissident playwright Vaclav Havel who was elected President of
Czechoslovakia in December 1989. Its Slovak counterpart, Public Against
Violence, was based on the same ideals.
In the June 1990 elections, Civic Forum and Public Against Violence won
landslide victories. Civic Forum and Public Against Violence found,
however, that although they had successfully completed their primary
objective -- the overthrow of the communist regime--they were less
effective as governing parties. In the 1992 elections, both Civic Forum
and Public Against Violence were replaced by a spectrum of new parties.
In elections held in June 1992, Vaclav Klaus's Civic Democratic Party
won in the Czech lands on a platform of economic reform, and Vladimir
Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) emerged as the leading
party in Slovakia, basing its appeal on fairness to Slovak demands for
autonomy. Meciar and Klaus negotiated the agreement to divide
Czechoslovakia, and Meciar's party--the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia
(HZDS--ruled Slovakia for most of its first 5 years as an independent
state, except for a 9-month period in 1994, during which Slovakia was
ruled by a reformist government under Prime Minister Jozef Moravcik. The
Moravcik government succeeded the country's initial HZDS-SNS coalition
government led by Meciar after a vote of no confidence in March 1994, but
Meciar returned to power in December 1994.
In the run-up to elections in October 1998, Meciar's government was
accused of thwarting democratic principles and imposing a biased election
law. A record 84% of voters participated in the vote, giving the Dzurinda
government a clear mandate for change to a reformist coalition led by
economist Mikulas Dzurinda and made up of four diverse parties--the Slovak
Democratic Coalition (SDK), SDL, the Party of the Hungarian Coalition
(SMK), and the Party of Civic Understanding (SOP). Since the election, the
new government has exposed widespread corruption and economic
mismanagement by the previous government, which had seriously undermined
efforts to maintain economic growth and integrate into Euro-Atlantic
institutions.
Under the original Slovak Constitution, the president was elected by
Parliament to a 5-year term. Since the Parliament was unable to agree on a
successor to President Michal Kovac when his term ended March 2, 1998,
most presidential powers reverted to the prime minister. In January 1999,
Parliament passed a constitutional amendment allowing for direct election
of the president. Kosice Mayor Rudolf Schuster was elected president in a
May 1999 run-off with former PM Meciar and took office on June 15, 1999.
The president serves as commander in chief of the armed forces, appoints
ministers, grants pardons, and has the right to dissolve Parliament under
certain circumstances. The president also signs laws and has the right to
return legislation to Parliament, but Parliament can override this veto
with a simple majority vote.
The country's highest court of appeals is the Supreme Court, elected by
and responsible to the National Council. The 10 members of the
Constitutional Court, who rule on constitutional issues, are appointed by
the president from a choice of candidates nominated by Parliament.
National Security Principal State Officials Slovakia maintains a temporary chancery in the United States at Suite
380, 2201 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20007. Construction on a
permanent chancery is due to be completed in 2000.
Slovakia maintains a foreign trade office in New York and honorary
consulates in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. ECONOMY Slovakia continues to have problems attracting foreign investment,
although the Dzurinda government has introduced incentives to foreign
direct investment. The most egregious privatization scandals of the Meciar
period are being reviewed and many state-held companies, including banks
and telecoms, will be privatized in the next 1-2 years. The new
government's ambitious economic plans could founder if the coalition lacks
unity on some of the more painful economic decision. Encouraging words
from the EU, OECD and foreign creditors should help Dzurinda and his team
boost public support for their program within Slovakia.
Germany is Slovakia's largest trading partner, purchasing about 23% of
Slovakia's exports and supplying more than 25% of its imports. Other major
partners include the Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, and Italy. Slovakia
imports nearly all of its oil and gas from Russia. Slovakia's export
markets are primarily OECD countries and the European Union. More than 50%
of its trade is with EU members. The United States accounts for about 3%
of total trade with Slovakia. The Slovak Republic has Most Favored Nation
status and receives duty-free (GSP) benefits for many of its products.
The government has applied for membership in the OECD and the EU.
Slovakia signed an Association Agreement with the EU in October 1993,
which went into effect in February 1995. In 1994, Slovakia was one of the
original members of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). FOREIGN RELATIONS Slovakia and the Czech Republic entered into a Customs Union upon the
division of Czechoslovakia in 1993. The Customs Union enables a relatively
free flow of goods and services. CEFTA similarly has improved market
access for Slovakia's neighbors. Hungary and Slovakia signed a Basic
Treaty in 1995 and are currently negotiating its implementation.
Slovakia is a member of the United Nations and participates in its
specialized agencies. It is a member of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It
maintains diplomatic relations with 135 countries of which 44 have
permanent representation in Bratislava. U.S.-SLOVAKIA RELATIONS Relations were cool between the two governments during the 50 years of
communist rule. When the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968,
the United States referred the matter to the UN Security Council as a
violation of the UN Charter, but no action was taken against the Soviets.
The fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989 and the
subsequent split of the two republics on January 1, 1993, allowed for
renewed cooperation between the U.S. and Slovakia. The United States has
delivered more than $200 million since 1990 to support the rebuilding of a
healthy democracy and market economy in Slovakia, primarily through
programs administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Slovakia and the U.S. retain strong diplomatic ties, cooperate in military
and law enforcement areas, and engage in economic partnership. The
election of a pro-Western, reformist government in late 1998 has further
boosted close ties between the countries.
Principal U.S. Embassy Officials The U.S. embassy in Slovakia is located at Hviezdoslavovo namestie 4,
81102 Bratislava (tel: 421-7-5443-08-61 or 421-7-5443-33-38; fax:
421-7-5443-00-96). Duty hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. The embassy is closed on U.S. and Slovak holidays. Further Electronic Information Department of State Foreign Affairs Network. Available on the Internet, DOSFAN provides timely, global access to official U.S. foreign policy information. Updated daily, DOSFAN includes Background Notes; daily press briefings; Country Commercial Guides; directories of key officers of Foreign Service posts; etc. DOSFAN's World Wide Web site is at http://www.state.gov/. |
