Slovakia slogs on

This month Sue Grossey breaks her progress through the ten EU accession states to review the anti-money laundering regime in Slovakia.

Slovakia is a land-locked country in the middle of Europe, covering just under 50,000 square kilometres. Bordered by Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Ukraine, it straddles the border between ‘old Europe’ and ‘new Europe’. In 1918 the Slovaks allied with their closely-related neighbours the Czechs to form Czechoslovakia, which – after World War Two – became a Communist nation within Soviet-ruled Eastern Europe. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of Czechoslovakia’s leaders to liberalise Communist party rule, and anti-Soviet demonstrations the following year ushered in a period of harsh repression. When Soviet authority collapsed in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful ‘Velvet Revolution’. On 1 January 1993, the country divided itself peacefully into its two national components: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. (The Czech Republic was the subject of last month’s article in this series.)