AGENCY 027 - WEBCAM CHAT SLOVAKIA
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Slovakia (long form: Slovak Republic; Slovak: Slovensko, long form Slovenská republika) is a landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (almost 19,000 square miles). The Slovak Republic borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, OECD, WTO, and other international organizations. The Slavic people arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia between the 5th and 6th century AD during the Migration Period (Migration of Nations). Various parts of Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire, the first known political unit of Slavs, Great Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg (Austrian) monarchy, Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia throughout history. Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993, with the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Divorce. Contents [hide]
[edit] Before the 5th century
After the Ottoman Empire started its expansion into Hungary and the occupation of Buda in the early 16th century, the centre of the Kingdom of Hungary (under the name of Royal Hungary) shifted towards Pressburg (now Bratislava) became the capital city of the Royal Hungary in 1536. But the Ottoman wars and frequent insurrections against the Habsburg Monarchy also inflicted a great deal of destruction, especially in rural areas. As the Turks retreated from Hungary in the 18th century, Slovakia's importance within the kingdom decreased, although Bratislava retained its position of the capital city of Hungary until 1848, when the capital moved to Budapest. During the revolution in 1848-49 the Slovaks supported the Austrian Emperor with the ambition to secede from the Hungarian part of the Austrian monarchy, but they failed to achieve this aim. During the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from 1867 to 1918, the Slovaks experienced severe oppression in the form of Magyarization, promoted by the Hungarian government. During the inter-war period, democratic and prosperous Czechoslovakia was under continuous pressure from the revisionist governments of Germany and Hungary, until it was finally broken up in 1939, as a result of the Munich Agreement concluded a year before. Southern Slovakia was lost to Hungary due to the First Vienna Award. Under pressure from Nazi Germany, the First Slovak Republic, led by the clerical fascist leader Jozef Tiso, declared its independence from Czechoslovakia in 1939. However, the government was strongly influenced by Germany and gradually became a puppet regime. An anti-Nazi resistance movement launched a fierce armed insurrection, known as the Slovak National Uprising, in 1944. A bloody German occupation and a guerilla war followed. Most Jews were deported from the country and vanished in German concentration camps during the Holocaust. After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and Jozef Tiso was hanged in 1947 for collaboration with Nazism. More than 76000 Hungarians[2] and 32000 Germans[3] were forced to leave Slovakia, in a series of population transfers initiated by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference. [4] This expulsion is still a source of tension between Slovakia and Hungary.[5] Czechoslovakia came under the influence of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact after a coup in 1948. The country was occupied by the Warsaw Pact forces in 1968, ending a period of liberalization under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek. In 1969, Czechoslovakia became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peaceful Velvet Revolution, was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states. In July 1992 Slovakia, led by Prime Minister Vladimír Meciar, declared itself a sovereign state, meaning that its laws took precedence over those of the federal government. Throughout the Autumn of 1992, Meciar and Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus negotiated the details for disbanding the federation. In November the federal parliament voted to dissolve the country officially on December 31, 1992. Slovakia and the Czech Republic went their separate ways after January 1, 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce. Slovakia has remained a close partner with the Czech Republic and other countries within the Visegrad Group. Slovakia became a member of the European Union in May 2004.
Major Slovak rivers are the Danube, the Váh and the Hron. The Slovak climate lies between the temperate and continental climate zones with relatively warm summers and cold, cloudy and humid winters. The area of Slovakia can be divided into three kinds of climatic zones and the first zone can be divided into two sub-zones. A Climate of lowlands A.a Climate of lowlands with dominance of oceanic influences - average annual temperature is about 9-10 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is about 20 °C and the average temperature of the coldest month is greater than -3 °C. This kind of climate occurs at Záhorská nížina and Podunajská nížina. It is the typical climate of the capital city Bratislava.[7] A.b Climate of lowlands with dominance of continental influences - average annual temperature is about 8-9 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is about 19 °C and the average temperature of the coldest month is less than -3 °C. This kind of climate can be found at Košická kotlina and Východoslovenská nížina. It is the typical climate of the city of Košice.[8] B Climate of basins - average annual temperature is between 5 °C and 8,5 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is between 15 °C and 18,5 °C and the average temperature of the coldest month is between -3 °C and -6 °C. This climate can be found in almost all basins in Slovakia. For example Podtatranská kotlina, Žilinská kotlina, Turcianska kotlina, Zvolenská kotlina. It is the typical climate for the towns of Poprad[9] and Sliac.[10] C Mountain climate - average annual temperature is less than 5 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is less than 15 °C and the average temperature of the coldest month is less than -5 °C. This kind of climate occurs in mountains and in some villages in the valleys of Orava and Spiš.
The official state language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic Language Family, but Hungarian is also widely spoken in the south of the country and enjoys a co-official status in some municipalities, and many people also speak Czech. The Slovak constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The majority of Slovak citizens (68.9 %) identify themselves with Roman Catholicism (although church attendance is lower); the second-largest group are people without confession (13%). About 6.93% belong to Lutheranism, 4.1% are Greek Catholic, affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, Calvinism has 2.0%, other and non-registered churches 1.1% and some (0.9%) are Eastern Orthodox. About 2,300 Jews remain of the large estimated pre-WWII population of 90,000.[11] In 2007 Slovakia was estimated to have a fertility rate of 1.33.[12] (i.e., the average woman will have 1.33 children in her lifetime), which is one of the lowest numbers among EU countries.
The Slovak head of state is the president (Ivan Gašparovic, 2004 - 2009), elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term. Most executive power lies with the head of government, the prime minister (Robert Fico, 2006 - 2010), who is usually the leader of the winning party, but he/she needs to form a majority coalition in the parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the president. The remainder of the cabinet is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister. Slovakia's highest legislative body is the 150-seat unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic (Národná rada Slovenskej republiky). Delegates are elected for a four-year term on the basis of proportional representation. Slovakia's highest judicial body is the Constitutional Court of Slovakia (Ústavný súd), which rules on constitutional issues. The 13 members of this court are appointed by the president from a slate of candidates nominated by parliament. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004 and of NATO since March 29, 2004. As a member of the United Nations (since 1993), Slovakia was, on October 10, 2005, for the first time elected to a two-year term on the UN Security Council (for 2006-2007). Slovakia is also a member of WTO, OECD, OSCE, and other international organizations.
Bratislava Region (Bratislavský kraj) (capital Bratislava)
The "kraje" are subdivided into many okresy (sg. okres, usually translated as districts). Slovakia currently has 79 districts. In terms of economics and unemployment rate, the western regions are richer than eastern regions; however the relative difference is no bigger than in most EU countries having regional differences. See also: List of traditional regions of Slovakia and List of tourism regions of Slovakia [edit] Economy Slovakia is characterized by the sustained high economic growth. In 2006, Slovakia reached the highest growth of GDP (8.9%) among the members of OECD. The annual GDP growth in 2007 is estimated to 10.3%, with the record level of 14.1% reached in the fourth quarter.[13] Unemployment, peaking at 19.2% at the end of 2001, decreased again to some 8.9% (March 2007).[14] In addition to the economic growth, migration of workers to other member-states of the European Union also contributed to this reduction. The unemployment rate still remains among the highest in the EU. Inflation dropped from an average annual rate of 12.0% in 2000 to just 3.3% in the election year 2002, but it rose again in 2003-2004 because of increases in taxes and regulated prices. It reached 3.7 % in 2005. Slovakia plans to adopt the Euro currency on 1 January 2009 and has already entered the ERM II for this purpose (Slovak euro coins). Slovakia is among the most attractive countries in the EU for foreign investors mainly because of its lower labour cost, low tax rates and well educated labour force.[citation needed] In recent years, Slovakia has been pursuing a policy of encouraging foreign investment. FDI inflow grew more than 600% from 2000 and cumulatively reached an all-time high of $17.3 billion USD in 2006., or around $18,000 per capita by the end of 2006. Despite a sufficient number of researchers and a solid secondary educational system, Slovakia (as well as some other post-communist countries) still faces many challenges in the field of modern knowledge economy. The business and public Research and development expenditures are deeply below EU average. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks the Slovak secondary education as the 30th in the world (placing it just below the United States and just above Spain), being significantly below the OECD average.[2]
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