The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1
January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which
had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation, became
immediate subjects of the international law in 1993.
It is sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, a reference to
the bloodless Velvet
Revolution of 1989 that led to the end of the rule of the Communist
Party of Czechoslovakia and the formation of a democratic government.
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.
Some major Slovak parties, however, advocated a looser form of co-existence and
the Slovak
National Party complete independence and sovereignty. In the next
years, political parties re-emerged, 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 Republic elected
Václav Klaus
and others who demanded either an even tighter federation ("viable
federation") or two independent states. Vladimír
Mečiar 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 Václav Havel
resigned rather than oversee the dissolution which he had opposed; in a
September 1992 poll, only 37% of Slovaks and 36% of Czechs favoured
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.
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