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Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
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The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, saw Czechoslovakia split into two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is sometimes referred to as the "Velvet Divorce" in English and in some other languages, a reference to the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that led to the end of the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the formation of a new, non-Communist government.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m2638822",this)' onMouseout='hide("m2638822")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Czechoslovakia">Czechoslovakia was created with the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I.
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The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, saw Czechoslovakia split into two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is sometimes referred to as the "Velvet Divorce" in English and in some other languages, a reference to the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that led to the end of the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the formation of a new, non-Communist government.
Background
Czechoslovakia was created with the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I. In 1917, a meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the future Czechoslovak president Tomas Masaryk and other Czech and Slovak representatives signed the Pittsburgh Agreement which promised a common state consisting of two equal nations, Slovakia and Czechia. Soon after, the philosophy of Edvard Beneš pushed for greater unity and a single nation.
Many Slovaks were not in favour of this change, and in March 1939, with the approval from Hitler and a majority of Slovaks, the First Slovak Republic was created. Occupation by the Soviet Union after WWII oversaw their reunification into the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
In 1968, the Constitutional Law of Federation reinstated an official federal structure (of the 1917 type), but during the "Normalization period" in the 1970s, Gustáv Husák (although a Slovak himself) returned most control to Prague. This approach encouraged a regrowth of separation after the fall of communism.
Separation
By the 1990s, the Czech Republic's GDP per capita was some 20% higher than Slovakia's, but its long-run GDP growth was lower. Transfer payments from the Czech budget to Slovakia, which had been the rule in the past, were stopped in January 1991.
Many Czechs and Slovaks desired the continued existence of a federal Czechoslovakia. A slight majority of Slovaks, however, advocated a looser form of co-existence or complete independence and sovereignty. In the next years, political parties reemerged, but Czech parties had little or no presence in Slovakia, and vice versa. In order to have a functional state, the government demanded continued control from Prague, while Slovaks continued to ask for decentralization.
In 1992, the Czech public elected Václav Klaus and others who demanded either an even tighter federation ("viable federation") or two independent states. Vladimír Meciar and other leading Slovak politicians of the day wanted a kind of confederation. The two sides opened frequent and intense negotiations in June. On 17 July, the Slovak parliament adopted the Declaration of independence of the Slovak nation. Six days later, Klaus and Meciar agreed to dissolve Czechoslovakia at a meeting in Bratislava. Czechoslovak president Vaclav Havel resigned rather than oversee the dissolution which he had opposed; in a September, 1992 poll, only 37% and 36% of Slovaks and Czechs, respectively, favored dissolution.
The goal of negotiations switched to achieving a peaceful division. On 13 November, the Federal Assembly passed Constitution Act 541 which settled the division of property between the Czech lands and Slovakia. With Constitution Act 542, passed on 25 November, they agreed to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia as of 31 December 1992.
The separation occurred without violence, and was thus said to be "velvet", much like the "Velvet revolution" which preceded it, which was accomplished through massive peaceful demonstrations and actions. In contrast, other post-communist break-ups (such as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia) involved violent conflict.
Legal aspects
Division of national property
Most federal assets were divided in the ratio 2 to 1 (the approximate ratio between the Czech and Slovak population within Czechoslovakia), including army equipment, rail and airliner infrastructure. Some minor disputes (e.g. about gold reserves stored in Prague, federal know-how valuation) lasted for a few years after dissolution.
Currency division
Initially the old Czechoslovak currency, the Czechoslovak koruna, was still used in both countries. Fears of economic loss on the Czech side caused the two states to adopt two national currencies as early as 8 February 1993. At the beginning, the currencies had an equal exchange rate, but later on, for most of the time, the value of the Slovak koruna was lower than that of the Czech koruna (up to ca. 30%, in 2004 around 25–27%, currently about 20%). On 1 January 2009 Slovakia adopted the euro as its currency.
Consequences
Economy
The dissolution had some negative impact on the two economies, especially in 1993, as traditional links needed to accommodate the bureaucracy of international trade were severed, but the impact was considerably less than expected by many people.
Many Czechs hoped that dissolution would quickly start an era of high economic growth in the Czech Republic (without the need to "sponsor the less developed Slovakia"). Similarly others looked forward to a stand-alone, unexploited Slovakia which might become a new "economic tiger". The Czech state is markedly more prosperous than the Slovak and the Slovak GDP level is still lower than that of the Czech Republic. The growth of the Slovak GDP, however, has been consistently higher than the Czech one since 1994 and the margin between the two states is closing.
Citizenship
Dual citizenship between the two states was originally not allowed; only years later did courts make it possible. Only a handful of people have exercised this right; however, the significance of this is lessened by both nations' membership in the EU as the freedom of movement for workers policy guarantees EU citizens the right to work and live anywhere in the Union. In the case of movement between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, this policy took effect from 2004.
People of both countries were allowed to cross the border without a passport and were allowed to work anywhere without the need to obtain an official permit. Border checks were completely removed on 21 December 2007 when both countries joined the Schengen Agreement.
Roma
One of the problems not solved during dissolution was the question of a large number of Roma living in the Czech Republic, who were born and officially registered in today's Slovakia. Most of them did not re-register their official place of stay during the months before dissolution, and so the question of their citizenship was left open. The 1992 Czech Nationality Act allowed a grant of automatic citizenship only to those born in the Czech lands. For others, the right to citizenship required proof of a five-year period of residence, an "unobjectionable" criminal record, significant fees and a complicated bureaucratic process; this reportedly excluded a rather large percentage of Roma. The Slovak government did not want to grant citizenship to non-residents. Significant numbers of Roma living in Czech orphanages did not have their legal status clarified, and were released from care as adult non-citizens without any right to work or live in the Czech Republic. Under pressure from the European Union, the Czech government made amendments to its nationality law in 1999 and 2003 which effectively solved the problem; compensation, however, has not been provided to those rendered stateless in 1992.
Language contacts
In the former Czechoslovakia, the first television channel (see Mass media in Communist Czechoslovakia) was a federal one and the Czech and Slovak language was used in equal ratios in the TV news there, although foreign films and TV series were almost exclusively dubbed into Czech, for example. This made almost all people of both nations passively bilingual, i.e., they were able to understand but not necessarily speak the other language. After the divorce the new TV channels in the Czech Republic practically stopped using Slovak, and young Czech people now have a much lower understanding of the Slovak language. The Czech TV news, however, recently started to reintroduce Slovak-language coverage from Slovakia. Also, the number of Slovak-language books and newspapers sold in the Czech Republic dropped drastically. In Slovakia, however, most cable TV providers offer Czech TV channels, and for economic reasons, many TV programmes on Slovak TV channels are still dubbed into Czech, some films in cinemas are subtitled in Czech and there are far more Czech-language books and periodicals on the market than before the divorce. Young Slovak people still have the same knowledge (if not better) of the Czech language as their predecessors. Even today, in Slovakia, Czech may be used automatically in all judicial proceedings, plus all documents written in Czech are acknowledged by Slovak authorities, and vice versa. Further, the latest draft version of the Official Language Act does guarantee Czechs the right to use their language in all official communication when dealing with Slovak authorities.
Sport
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1993 in Falun, Sweden, the ski jumping team competed as a combined Czech Republic-Slovakia team in the team large hill event, winning a silver. The team had been selected prior to the dissolution. Jaroslav Sakala won two medals in the individual hill events for the Czech Republic at those games along with his silver in the team event.
The official break-up occurred right in the middle of the 1993 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, which also took place in Sweden. The team representing Czechoslovakia was called "Czech-Slovak" starting on 1 January.
In their qualifying section for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the Czechoslovakia national football team competed under the name RCS which stood for "Representation of Czechs and Slovaks". It was after this that the teams were then officially split up into Czech Republic and Slovakia. The team failed to qualify after they could only draw their final match against Belgium, a match they needed to win to qualify.
Legacy
After a transition period of roughly four years, during which the relations between the states could be characterised as a "post-divorce trauma", the present relations between Czechs and Slovaks, as many people point out, are probably better than they have ever been.
No movement to re-unite Czechoslovakia has appeared and no political party advocates it in its programme. Political influences between the countries are minimal. Trade relationships were re-established and stabilized. After a short interruption, Slovakia's resorts in the Carpathian mountains are again the target of a growing number of Czech tourists.
Timeline
External links
- Krejcí, Oskar: Bratislava: Veda, 2005. 494 p. (Free download)
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