The Non-Existent Community
Slovakia and Germany
Vladimír Bilčík, Juraj Buzalka
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
German-Slovak relations are not burdened by historical conflicts. However, they suffer from the asymmetry between the two states. Slovakia is nowhere near as important to Germany as Germany is to Slovakia. On the basis of its economic strength and political influence as well as its membership in the Schengen area of free movement and the euro-zone, Germany is an important EU partner and protégé for Slovakia. By contrast, divergences in interests predominate when it comes to opening up the EU-internal market to workers from Eastern-Central Europe and bringing EU tax rates into line with one another. The internal EU-split into fully entitled and not yet fully entitled members as well as fundamental questions of European policy such as the constitutional treaty are also igniting internal Slovak conflicts.
(Osteuropa 10/2006, pp. 65–76)