Slovakia

Capital: Bratislava
Population: 5.4 mill.
GDP per capita: 8 200 Euros (2006)
Schengen zone: yes
Eurozone: yes
EU-accession: 2004
Cities with European institutions or agencies:

EU-relations: More than 92% of the Slovaks supported Slovakia’s membership of the EU in a referendum that was held in 2003. However, the voter turnout was only 52%, and as a result of this the referendum was barely valid. Slovakia obtained independence in 1993, when Czechoslovakia was peacefully divided into two republics, but it did not continue the road to EU membership by itself. As member of the Visegrad Group, which was established in 1991, it was trying to step up integration into the EU along with Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. Slovakia became famous and disreputable at the same time among the neighbours of Europe, when flat tax was introduced in 2004. This was a uniform tax rate that was only 19%. The lowest nominal wage level in Middle Europe and flat tax caused Slovakia to become ”the service station” of Europe, and extensive foreign investments were drawn to the country. _Slovakia’s economy that was strongly dependent on exports exceeded all estimates. The economic growth was in September 2006 9.8%.

Analysis

20 Years After: Democracy Under Threat?

Election years in the Visegrád 4

Central and Eastern European states seem to have reached the safe harbour of representative democracy. A closer look, however, raises an unsettling question: how solid are the foundations that (...)

by Abel BOJAR - 16 March 2010

On the web

Groupe de Visegrad

Le Groupe de Visegrad est né en 1991 de l’émancipation des pays d’Europe Centrale et Orientale de la tutelle soviétique et d’une volonté de coopération étroite entre la République tchèque, la Pologne et la Hongrie. Il s’agissait à l’origine de créer une plate-forme politique pour se dégager rapidement de l’emprise soviétique et mieux préparer l’intégration dans l’Europe politique et économique. Le Groupe de Visegrad n’est pas institutionnalisé, mais repose sur des rencontres périodiques à différents niveaux (présidentiel, ministériel, groupes d’experts). Les quatre pays que compte aujourd’hui le Groupe coopèrent dans les domaines de la culture, de l’éducation, de la science, de l’environnement et du développement de la coopération transfrontalière. (En anglais)

Groupe de Visegrad
Visegrad Info

Visegrad Info est un site d’information en 5 langues (anglais, polonais, hongrois, tchèque et slovaque) sur les pays d’Europe de l’est.

Visegrad Info

Recently, in the news

18 May 2009 - The Personality

’[The EU parliament] is a victim of its own popularity among Slovaks’

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of the University of Roma Tor Vergata, in partnership with Eurosduvillage group, is organizing the eighth edition of the Jean Monnet Summer Seminar a high level seminar on the functioning of the European Union addressed to graduate and Phd students as well as young civil servants. The seminar include two teaching modules lasting one week. The first module (4-8 July) will analyze the decision making process of the European Union while the second one (11-15 July) the foreign policy of the European Union. For more information and registration go to: http://www.eusummerseminar.uniroma2.it/