Slovakia is known for the Tatra Mountains and the beautiful Danube. Capital: Bratislava Official language: Slovak Currency: Euro Passport and visa: A Finnish citizen needs a passport or identity card as a travel document. Time difference to Finland: -1
Agriculture
After the fall of communism in 1989, the importance of agriculture to the Slovak economy has diminished. Its share of gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen from more than 10 percent in 1989 to just over 3 percent in 2011. In the same year, the sector employed almost 3 percent of the labor force. In 1990 the proportion was 12 percent.
CountryAAH: Comprehensive import regulations of Slovakia. Covers import prohibitions and special documentation requirements for a list of prohibited items.
The country is largely self-sufficient on many basic foods. The most important crops are wheat, barley, corn, sugar beet, rye, oats and potatoes. On the slopes of the Tatra Mountains in northern and central Slovakia, grapes are grown and tobacco and fruit are produced in the river Váh’s valleys. Livestock breeding is also significant.
Prior to 1989, agriculture was fully collectivized or operated by cooperatives. After independence, virtually the entire sector was privatized and in 1995 only a few cooperatives remained. After EU accession in 2004, agriculture was modernized, but the majority of the country’s farms are still small and can almost be counted as horticulture. For Slovakia defense and foreign policy, please check relationshipsplus.
Slovakia is one of Europe’s most prosperous countries. About 40 percent of the area is wooded. Like the agricultural land, the forest has been privatized since 1991. This has led to extensive harvesting in some areas. In 2010, the forest industry accounted for less than 1 percent of GDP.
FACTS – AGRICULTURE
Agriculture’s share of GDP
3.0 percent (2018)
Percentage of land used for agriculture
39.2 percent (2016)
Abbreviationfinder.org: Offers how the 3-letter acronym of SVK stands for the state of Slovakia in geography.
2020
February
Anti-corruption party wins the election
February 29th
The center-right party OL’aNO, which profiled itself as an anti-corruption party, becomes the big winner of the election. OL’aNO more than doubles its number of seats and occupies 53 of the 150 seats in Parliament. The Smer SD that has ruled Slovakia for the past eight years loses more than ten seats and comes in second place. The other parties that have been members of the last ruling coalition – SNS, Bro and Nätverket / Siet ‘- are leaving Parliament. In split third place comes the right-wing party SME Rodina and right-wing extremist L’SNS who both strengthen their position and win 17 seats each. Liberal SaS, which became the second largest in the 2016 election, goes back and comes in fourth place with 13 seats. The newly formed For the people will be the fifth and last party to pass the barrier. The people win 12 seats. The partial alliance comprising President Zuzana Čaputová’s Progressive Slovakia does not succeed in entering Parliament. The alliance receives 6.96 percent of the vote. More than 900 votes are taken to pass the seven percent threshold for partial alliances.
Retirees and families with children are awaited before the election
February 25th
The right-wing extremist party L’SNS and two smaller parties help the ruling Smer-SD get through the government’s benefit package aimed at pensioners, families with children and motorists. Pensioners must receive an extra pension payment each year, the child allowance is doubled and tolls are removed for all vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tonnes. The opposition is raging and calling the government’s proposal too corrupt given the parliamentary elections in a few days.
January
The journalist’s trainee appears
January 13
The trial of the four people suspected to be behind the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak 2018 begins with the professional soldier Miroslav Marček admitting that it was he who held the gun and executed Kuciak and Kuciak’s fiancee. The main accused, the businessman Marián Kočner, who is accused of ordering the murder via his interpreter Alena Zsuzsová, does not want to comment. Kočner has previously denied that he would be a part of the plot.
