SLOVAKIA: A PRO-EUROPEAN ISLAND IN CENTRAL EUROPE

2016

Politics, 2007

The 2004 enlargement of the European Union has provided political scientists with 10 additional cases to examine national preference formation and behaviour in the EU. The first two years of Slovakia's membership suggest that while unique historical experiences and size contribute to explaining Slovakia's stance on further integration, ideology, powerful societal interests and the opportunities of membership (as opposed to accession) hold the key. These findings not only feed into broader debates surrounding preference formation and related theories of European integration, but also cast light on the behaviour of new Member States following the period shaped by accession conditionality.

2014

PARTNERSHIP FOR PROSPERITY Materials of the international scientific and practical conference «Republic of Belarus – European Union: problems and perspectives of partnership» Belarus, Minsk, June 13–14, 2013, pp. 104-111., 2014

the rest: journal of politics and development, 2024

The United Kingdom has been seen as a balancing element for small states to prevent big states from gaining hegemony in the EU, especially Franco-German. The decision, which was stated to withdraw the UK from the EU with a referendum in 2016, has reawakened the concern of small states. Inevitably, member states have been affected by the outcome of this decision, even though in a different dimension. The Brexit negotiations preserved the dominance of the EU interests so as not to create a chain effect among the other members based on Article 50, which was applied for the first time. In contrast, the EU’s implementation of immigration policies has mainly led to the strengthening of anti-EU groups in the member states. Since Central and Eastern European countries are the first boundaries of migration waves, anti-immigration movements are felt in those countries’ political and social spheres. Slovakia faced the Brexit decision at the first Council Presidency after becoming a member of the EU. On the other hand, the Presidency’s agenda was not overshadowed by Brexit and focused on the predetermined road map. For this reason, the Council Presidency of Slovakia had not been subject to the shocking effect of any crisis agenda and was relatively moderate. With the immigration policies, which include the general interests of the EU, there was no progress in the asylum and migration title as the point of view of Slovakia is not very compatible. This article deals with the Brexit process and its impact on Slovakia. The main question of the study is how small states fill in the gap that Brexit might cause and whether small states can take the initiative for the future of the EU, which is discussed in the case of Slovakia.

2016

Journal of Contemporary European Research, 2007

Slovak Sociological Review. Volume 38, 2006, No. 6: 533-545, 2006

This study argues that despite the formal dominance of the Slovak parliament over the government as originally laid down in Slovak constitution, the government manages to dominate Slovak constitutional system at the expense of the parliament. Firstly, this happened through an extensive use of government’s legislative powers. Later on, the EU accession of Slovakia - predominantly an executive affair - strengthened this dominance and led to 2001 constitutional amendment. Despite another constitutional change initiated by the parliament in 2003, which was to re-establish the institutional balance, the parliament is still unable to control and influence the government with regard to EU matters.