Disputes occurred only with respect to the Czechoslovak national flag. During the 1992 negotiations about the details of dissolution of Czechoslovakia, on demand made by Vladimír Mečiar and Václav Klaus, a clause forbidding use of state symbols of Czechoslovakia by successor states was inserted into the Constitutional Law about the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
From 1990 to 1992, the red and white Flag of Bohemia (differing from the Polish flag only by proportion of the colours) officially served as the flag of the Czech Republic. Eventually, after a search for new symbology the Czech Republic unilaterally decided to ignore the constitutional law on dissolution of Czechoslovakia (article 3 of law 542/1992 says the "Czech republic and Slovak republic shall not use national symbols of Czech and Slovak Federative republic after its dissolution.") and to keep the Czechoslovak flag with an altered meaning.
The national territory was divided along the existing internal borders. Nevertheless, the border was not clearly defined at some points and, in some areas, the border cut across streets, access roads and communities that had co-existed for centuries. The most serious issues occurred around area ‘U Sabotů’ and ‘Sidonia’, but the newly born countries were able to solve the difficulties via mutual negotiations, financial compensation and, finally, an international treaty covering the border modifications. People living or owning property in the border area, however, did not stop experiencing practical problems until both new countries entered the Schengen Agreement Area, after which the borders became less significant.
Most federal assets were divided in a ratio of 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. 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%). Since 2 August 1993, the two currencies were distinguished by different stamps first affixed to and then printed on the old (Czechoslovak koruna) banknotes.
On 1 January 2009 Slovakia adopted the euro as its currency, and the €2 commemorative coin for 2009, Slovakia's first one, featured the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in remembrance of the common struggle of the Czechoslovakian people for democracy. By the virtue of fate, the welcoming speech on the behalf of the European Union on the occasion of Slovakia's entry to the was delivered by Mirek Topolánek, the prime minister of the then EU presiding country, the Czech Republic, naturally in his native language while other guest speakers used English. The Czech Republic continues to use the Czech koruna, or crown.
Neither the Czech Republic nor Slovakia sought recognition as the sole successor state to Czechoslovakia. This can be contrasted to the dissolution of the Soviet Union where the Russian Federation was recognized as successor state to the USSR. Therefore, Czechoslovakia's membership in the UN ceased upon dissolution of the country, but on 19 January 1993 the Czech and Slovak Republics were admitted to the UN as new and separate states.
With respect to other international treaties the Czechs and Slovaks agreed to honour the treaty obligations of Czechoslovakia. The Slovaks transmitted a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations on 19 May 1993 expressing their intent to remain a party to all treaties signed and ratified by Czechoslovakia, and to ratify those treaties signed but not ratified before dissolution of Czechoslovakia. This letter acknowledged that under international law all treaties signed and ratified by Czechoslovakia would remain in force. For example, both countries are recognized as signatories of the Antarctic Treaty from the date Czechoslovakia signed the agreement back in 1962.
Both the Czech and Slovak Republics have ratified the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties. However, it was not a factor in the dissolution of Czechoslovakia since it did not enter into force until 1996. 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. Furthermore, Slovakia has overtaken the Czech Republic in terms of economic reforms aimed at approaching the economic conditions of the West.
One of the outcomes so far has been the acceptance of Slovakia into the Euro Area in 2009, which the Czech Republic still does not fully qualify for (on account of the missing reforms, some of which are required for accession). While the wealth of the Czech Rep. remains higher than that of Slovakia in many respects, Czech development is continually hindered by what may be described as a lack of resolve towards mending the persisting shortcomings of the domestic economy (in addition to the discussed reforms, this includes e.g. long-term fiscal irresponsibility or a failure to take steps to improve the low domestic labour productivity).
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.
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 on Czech territory. 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; however, compensation has not been provided to those rendered stateless in 1992.
In the former Czechoslovakia, the first television channel was a federal one and the Czech and Slovak languages were used in equal ratios in the TV news there, although foreign films and TV series were almost exclusively dubbed into Czech, for example. This (and the fact that both languages are very similar) 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 dissolution in 1990s 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. Also, the number of Slovak-language books and newspapers sold in the Czech Republic dropped drastically. The Czech TV news, however, started to reintroduce Slovak-language coverage from Slovakia and Slovak TV (STV2) rebroadcasts the Czech TV newscast Události ČT daily, ten minutes after midnight.
On Slovak state TV, it is common to have daily at least one newscast from the Czech Republic in prime time news. Further, 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 dissolution.
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 Slovak Official Language Act passed in 2009 did reconfirm the right of Czechs to use their language in all official communication when dealing with Slovak authorities (however, the Act explicitly limited the use of Czech in Slovakia only to persons with Czech as their mother tongue). The same is true about using the Slovak language in the Czech Republic owing to the Administration Procedure Act of 2004. Gustáv Slamečka, the Czech transport minister (2009 - 2009) of Slovak origin, uses the Slovak language exclusively in his official communication.
The upward trend in the language contacts demonstrates that Czechs and Slovaks do not regard each other as foreigners. The interview surveys from 2010 showed that the majority of the population of Prague (Czechs) still considers the division of the country a mistake; similarly, the general representative survey in Slovakia (from 2008) showed that society is still divided in opinion on the dissolution: 47% favouring the dissolution, while 44% considering it as a mistake.
The two successor states continued to use the country code +42 until 28 February 1997, when this was replaced by two separate codes. Since then, telephone calls between the two countries have required international dialing.
After a transition period of roughly four years, during which the relations between the states could be characterized as a "post-divorce trauma", the present relations between Czechs and Slovaks, is gthe impression, are probably better than they have ever been.
No movement to re-unite Czechoslovakia has appeared and no political party advocates it in its program. Political influences between the countries are minimal, but social democrats tend to cooperate very closely on regional and European topics in recent years. Furthermore, it has become customary that the elected presidents pay their first and last official foreign visits during their term to the other republic of the former Czechoslovakia. Appointed foreign ministers tend to follow this unwritten rule. On 29 October 2012, in order to commemorate Czechoslovakia´s declaration of independence, which falls on 28 October, the Czech and the Slovak governments held for the first time a joint cabinet meeting in the communities of Trenčín and Uherské Hradiště in the vicinity of the common border.
Also, peace keeping troops stationed in former Yugoslavia were put under a joint command on several occasions. For example, since 2002 till July 2005, the Czech Armed Forces formed together with Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic a joint Czech-Slovak KFOR battalion in Kosovo that contributed to the Multinational Brigade CENTRE. Trade relationships were re-established and stabilized, and the Czech Republic continues to be Slovakia's most important business partner. After a short interruption, Slovakia's resorts in the Carpathian mountains are again the target of a growing number of Czech tourists.
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