Twenty-three years after their Velvet Divorce Czechs and Slovaks are "closer than ever"
The Czech and Slovak governments met for a joint working session in Bratislava on Monday to discuss the state of bilateral ties, cooperation in security and defense and their position on key European issues. Twenty-three years after the Velvet Divorce, the two neighbors say their relationship is better than ever.
“It is very pleasing that, according to repeated surveys, the Czechs feel that Slovaks are the nation closest to their hearts and vice versa. That is a great asset in today’s uneasy and turbulent world, and in the presently unstable and uncertain European Union.”
While in 1993 Czechs and Slovaks wanted to pursue separate foreign policies, today they frequently meet to consult their positions on key European and global issues in view of increasing their clout in the European Union. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said they were fighting side-by-side to defend their priorities.
Prague and Bratislava are also speaking in once voice as regards the question of mandatory migrant quotas proposed by the European Commission, which both have strongly rejected and both have stressed the need for EU unity in the Brexit talks, fearing a deal that might leave their countries’ nationals in a worse position on the British labor market.
Speaking in Bratislava Prime Minister Sobotka stressed the importance of regional cooperation and consensus in the present-day European Union.
“I think that the Visegrad Group alliance is an important instrument that allows us to influence decision-making in the European Union. Speaking with one voice we have more clout in the European Council than if we acted alone and I am very glad that the close relations between Prague and Bratislava strengthen Visegrad unity and allow us to use that unity in communicating our national interests in the EU.”
