10 Years of Slovakia's EU Accession

At the centre, the letters EÚ alongside the Slovak coat of arms featuring the double cross, with the date '1.5.2004' and the year 2014 to the right; below, the state name 'Slovensko'; above, the inscription '10. výrocie vstupu do Európskej únie' and the mint mark.

On 1 May 2004, Slovakia joined the European Union together with nine other states — the largest enlargement round in the Community's history. For Slovakia, this step was the outcome of a profound transformation process: after the end of communism in 1989 and the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the young country had to consolidate democratic institutions, build a market economy, and adopt the EU's extensive body of rules within little more than a decade. The late 1990s in particular were politically turbulent; only after the change of government in 1998 did Bratislava accelerate the reforms that ultimately opened the way to Brussels. Accession gave Slovakia not only access to the European internal market but also anchored it permanently at the political and economic core of the continent.

In the first ten years of EU membership, the country changed noticeably: foreign direct investment flowed into the automotive industry, and Slovakia became one of Europe's leading vehicle producers per capita. In 2009, it became the first of the new Central European member states to introduce the euro — a further integration step underscoring its close ties with the European economic area. There were downsides too: regional imbalances between the capital region and structurally weaker areas, as well as continued emigration of skilled workers. Nevertheless, in 2014, on the tenth anniversary of EU accession, Slovakia drew an overall positive conclusion about a membership that had fundamentally shaped the country.