The Prague Post
October 14th, 2008
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10 years after

Driven by European integration, Prague and Bratislava establish their strongest ties since the Velvet Divorce

Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, left, and then-Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, front, negotiated the breakup of Czechoslovakia.
By Frank Forrest
For The Prague Post
(December 23, 2002)


The year 2002 was marked by huge steps taken toward reintegrating the post-communist world into Western Europe.

At a November summit held in Prague, NATO invited seven Eastern European nations to join the military alliance. Less than a month later, the European Union extended offers to join the economic bloc to many of the same countries.

The trend toward European unification was mirrored in the state of relations between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Despite taking widely divergent paths after the 1993 split of Czechoslovakia, the two nations are now building the strongest ties they have shared in their history as separate states.

In 2002, Czechs and Slovaks took several major steps to reconnect with their former compatriots:

-- A joint Czech-Slovak military battalion went into action on a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

-- Slovakia was invited to join NATO, an organization that has counted the Czech Republic as a member since 1999.
"After they parted, they found out that they posed no major problem to one another."

Jacques Rupnik,
political analyst

-- Military and political officials on both sides began discussions on the creation of a joint air force.

-- The countries announced Dec. 13 that they were dropping virtually all trade barriers between the two republics.

-- Both nations were invited to join the EU.

"Working toward the EU is greatly determining the direction of development for both countries," said Vladimir Leska, chief researcher for Czech-Slovak relations at Prague's Institute of International Relations. "It's helping bring deeper cooperation."

The cancellation of trade barriers is one example of how EU enlargement is inspiring the countries to improve ties, said Trade Minister Jiri Rusnok.

"This brings us much closer to what we will [see] after both countries have joined the EU and have been exposed to the market environment of the single European market," he said.

In a united Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovakia would be the two countries with the closest relationship, according political analyst Jacques Rupnik, who was an adviser to President Vaclav Havel from 1990 to 1992.

He said that the split, dubbed the "Velvet Divorce," was an example of how the two countries have a special relationship.

"Why, unlike Yugoslavia, could Czechoslovakia be divided so easily? Because there was neither any hatred nor trauma. After they parted, they found out that they posed no major problem to one another," he said.


Significant change

The year's developments mark a significant change from days past.

For a good part of the nineties, relations between the two countries were far from neighborly. The years following the separation found the Czech Republic making a strong push to join the West. Meanwhile, Slovakia entered a period of geopolitical stagnation. Under the authoritarian rule of Vladimir Meciar, Slovakia became increasingly isolated. Although they had agreed at the time of separation to biannual meetings, Meciar and then-Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus went four years without meeting.

"During the mid-nineties, relations were at their lowest," Leska said. "The governments in both countries were set on different paths of development, which pushed them apart." It was not until Milos Zeman and Mikulas Dzurinda became prime ministers of their respective countries that disputes over dual citizenship, division of property and outstanding debts could finally be addressed.

"Zeman and Dzurinda weren't connected to the former governments, which had brought about Czechoslovakia's separation and were then intent on going in different directions to show that the split had been correct," Leska said.

Although various factors were behind the breakup -- including economic motivations on the Czech side and a desire for greater autonomy on the Slovak one -- it is doubtless that Klaus and Meciar had much to gain from the separation. Charges that the division was orchestrated by these political elites become more plausible when one considers that a July 1992 poll showed that only 16 percent of Czechoslovak citizens favored the split.

Even on the Slovak side, where there had been calls for more autonomy since the creation of Czechoslovakia, support for independence never reached more than 33 percent.


Why the split?

Over the past decade, academics, politicians and journalists have posed the question of whether Czechoslovakia's division was inevitable. Such speculation raises another question: How did the two nations find themselves together in the first place? Despite geographic proximity and nearly identical languages, the historical development of the Czechs and the Slovaks was in many ways radically different.

As far back as the Great Moravian Empire of the ninth century, Czechs and Slovaks were joined in a common state. But by the end of the 10th century, the empire was divided between the Germans and the Hungarians, who would influence the Czechs and Slovaks respectively for centuries to come. And while the Czechs went on to govern themselves -- most notably under the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in the 14th century -- the Slovak nation remained under Hungarian control until the establishment of Czechoslovakia.

Even when both countries were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, their development was different. While the Czechs, administered from Vienna, were allowed more free rein to handle their own affairs, helping to create a more prosperous middle class, the Magyar-governed Slovak lands saw little industrial development and few opportunities for secondary and higher education.

The result was the coming together in 1918 of more secular, progressive and rationalistic Czechs and more religious, conservative and tradition-bound Slovaks.

Yet somehow the combination seemed to work. From 1918 to 1938, the First Czechoslovak Republic was the only functioning parliamentary democracy in Central Europe. That is not to say that the country didn't have its share of problems, especially in regard to its heterogeneous population. In addition to 7 million Czechs and 2 million Slovaks, the new country had more than 3 million Germans, 250,000 Hungarians and nearly a million Ukrainians and Russians.

"It was politically demanding, but on the other hand it was culturally and spiritually very fruitful," said Senate Chairman Petr Pithart, who served as prime minister of the Czech government from 1990 to 1992. He adds that since Czechoslovakia's division, "Both countries have lost some importance in Central Europe."

Historical forces

This loss of importance helps explain why the two countries are coming closer together again. What helped spur the creation of Czechoslovakia, and also led to its division, is now responsible for the renewed cooperation: the larger geopolitical landscape.

Czechoslovakia's first president, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, had the support of many in his desire to create an independent country from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire because of Czech concerns about German revenge and Slovak concerns about the same with Hungary. In the post-Cold War environment, such threats have vanished.

As the countries continue to work toward membership in Western institutions, they have begun to realize that cooperation will again bring advantages. Even before NATO membership was offered to Slovakia, Czech Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik suggested that military cooperation between the two countries be sharply elevated.

"Of course, closer relations are encouraging such initiatives, but both sides also understand that such military cooperation is cost-effective," Leska said.

The Visegrad group (currently made up of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) could find a more active role within the EU -- similar to the Benelux countries -- in which the smaller states push for common interests, Leska said.

-- Inka Neuschlova and wire stories contributed to this report.

Frank Forrest can be reached at news@praguepost.com




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