Slovakia essay

In 2004, there was a enlargement of the European Union. Slovakia became a member state in May 2004. The country was on the official candidates list since 1995.

Who could predicted that this country, appeared after the fall of Czechoslovakia would be a one day in European Union?

Therefore, it is relevant to wonder, why does this accession in European Union was a good opportunity for Slovakia? In a first part, I will give you some details on Slovakia. In a second part, I will highlight what are the changes since this accession. To finish I will talk about new issues that Slovakia is confronted to.

First and foremost, let me give you some details about Slovakia.

It is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. It is a Parliamentary Republic.

Andrej Kiska is the president of this country with 5,41 million people. Its GDP, in 2014 was of 75 billion with a public debt close to 55,4% of the GDP. Its unemployment rate is close to 11%.

Its currency is Euro. Indeed, since 2009, it is a member state of the Euro Area. Moreover, it is also  

a Schengen Area member since 2007 and Slovakia has 13 seats in the European Parliament.

The main desire was improving its economic and social system and this was accomplished.

Indeed, thanks to this accession Slovakia changed.

EU gave them economic aid of € 2.026 billion and Slovekia gave 0,713 billion euros for European Union’s budget. We can notice that Slovakia benefited of a huge help for its development. Indeed,

2.9 % of Slovakia’s wealth comes from EU investment in public investment for exemple for social protection, education, sciences, agriculture.

There was an improvement in slovekia’s trade, thanks to the free european trade zone.

Slovakia’s main export partners are Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland while its main import partners are Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Slovakia developed is economy with wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation, food services and industry.

In favor of a fairly skilled labor, low wages and flexible labor law, the country attracts many industrial companies and foreign investment like Volkswagen, Peugeot, Citroën.

 However, nowadays we can notice some problems.

Indeed, despite the fact that this accession has improved Slovekia’s growth and also social conditions for people who live there, this country also know problems such as the economic downturn and mass unemployment rise.The Slovak trade balance is slightly negative because many of its exports were for UE.

Slovekia like many other state-members are waiting for EU aid but it will not be so easy.

To conclude, EU definitely changed Slovekia. It became a stable market economy. Its population and its business benefited of this Union but nowadays, recession weakened the country. and EU and Slovekia can not found a solution together.

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