With the highest economic growth in the EU in 2008, Slovakia used to be known as the ‘Central European Economic Tiger’ and the ‘Detroit of Europe’. However, the global economic crisis caused a rapid increase in unemployment in 2009, accompanied by a significant fall in GDP (although the country is now again among the best performers in the EU in terms of the pace of GDP growth). Slovakia also faces issues to do with social exclusion including a long-standing Roma problem; the members of this ethnic group are generally the poorest in Slovak society.

Internal and external political tensions

From 1998 to 2006 Slovakia instituted several important social and economic reforms. However, the subsequent Government, led by Prime Minister Róbert Fico, which held office from 2006 to 2010, did not build on this success and implemented policies that were in conflict with the policies of the preceding governments. Among the achievements of the Fico Government were meeting the criteria for entry into the European Economic and Monetary Union, implementation of the common euro currency in Slovakia on 1 January 2009, and entry into the Schengen system. These achievements led to a slight increase in the level of prices and to significant changes to migration policy. Despite these achievements, politics and governance in Slovakia have a long way to go to reach European standards, and are characterised by political tension, both internal (between parties) and external (with Hungary); the vulgarisation of politics, including verbal attacks on minority groups by members of political parties; an increase in corruption (Slovakia’s rating on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index dropped between 2000 and 2008, see Figure 1); and a failure to move forward on important social issues such as housing and discrimination (against Roma and women). These present real challenges for Slovakia in overcoming social exclusion.

Of these challenges, Slovakia’s failure to move forward on sensitive social issues has exacerbated social exclusion. The Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions, which is situated in Geneva, gave its ‘2007 Housing Violator Awards’ to Burma, China and Slovakia. The Centre criticised Slovakia for persistently discriminating against its Roma population, which frequently faces segregation and forced eviction by local authorities. Unfortunately, there has been no major change since that time and the previous Government continued to neglect this issue (Klimovský 2009).

There is a similar story in relation to gender equality. Despite the fact that in 2008 the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women pointed out its concerns about ongoing discrimination against women in Slovakia and advised the Government to be more active in this field, the previous Government paid little attention to this issue.

Regional disparities

Many European countries face problems due to regional disparities between rural and urban centres, with metropolitan or central regions developing rapidly, and peripheral and rural regions developing slowly and irregularly. Such economic disparities are usually accompanied by variations in the territorial distribution of prosperity as well as poverty.

Slovakia is characterised by huge regional disparities. These disparities are especially visible when looking at regional GDP per capita (Table 1) and regional unemployment rates (Table 2).

While Bratislava Region produces almost 27% of Slovakia’s total national GDP, Banská Bystrica Region and Prešov Region produce less than 9% of the GDP of Slovakia. Looking at long-term development, Bratislava Region and other Western Slovak regions are developing much faster than Banská Bystrica Region and the regions of Eastern Slovakia.

The regional unemployment rate is consistent with the regional disparities in GDP. In Bratislava Region, unemployment was less than 4.5% in March 2010 and in Trnava Region only 8.62%, while in Košice Region it reached almost 17%, in Prešov Region more than 18%, and in Banská Bystrica Region almost 20% for the same period.

The industrialisation of Slovakia after the Second World War created serious problems in the Slovak regions, especially those situated in the peripheries. Many Slovak regions were industrialised in a mono-segment way, and their dependence on one or few industrial companies was high. This led to social and economic troubles in the 1990s, and it may well be a ‘timebomb’ in the years to come (Kling 2002). Moreover, the Roma, who are generally some of the poorest in Slovak society, are concentrated in the peripheral regions (i.e., especially in the east and south-eastern parts of the country), which complicates the problem.

Poverty in Slovakia and the Roma

In order to assess the level of poverty in Slovakia and to compare it among the Slovak regions, it is helpful to use a composite indicator of poverty. The indicator for the purposes of this report is constructed using a simple method of multi-criteria evaluation based on the sum of ranks (i.e., at risk of poverty rates; long-term unemployment rates; populations with primary or no education; material deprivation rates; and Gini coefficients). The results are presented in a thematic map (Figure 2).

The south-eastern and eastern parts of Slovakia have a much higher incidence of poverty as economic activity is heavily concentrated in the west, particularly around the capital of Bratislava (Habitat for Humanity International 2010).

Although official data indicate that the Roma minority constitutes only 2% of the Slovak population, the reality is very different. For instance the London-based Minority Rights Group NGO estimated the total number of the Roma in Slovakia to be 480,000 to 520,000, or 9 to 10% of the entire Slovak population (Liegeois and Gheorghe 1995). Roma are strongly affected by poverty in Slovakia. Manifestations of discrimination against Roma include limited or lack of access to education, health services and other basic services; bias in the labour market; inadequate housing (Puliš 2002; Šoltésová and Fotta 2007; Jurová 2008; Klimovský 2008, 2009, 2010; Želinský 2009, 2010); social bias and exclusion (Radičová 2001; Džambazovič and Jurásková 2002; Džambazovič and Gerbery 2005).

The Roma are very often segregated in squatter settlements (ghettos)[1] called osada outside municipalities or towns. In 2000, there were approximately 620 known settlements in Slovakia, where more than 125,000 inhabitants were living in approximately 14,500 houses or shacks – and only a little more than 6,000 of those inhabitants were employed (Habitat for Humanity International 2010). Most of the people living in such settlements have no access to proper sewerage, clean drinking water or electricity. Adults and children often live in one-room shacks and share just one bed. Many of those shacks are not properly insulated and protected from harsh winter conditions. Low-income families cannot afford to renovate their homes and install proper windows and doors, and are forced to pay lavish sums for heating with the recent sharp rise in the price of utilities. At the same time, they are unable to obtain loans from commercial banks, as they are deemed unreliable borrowers (Habitat for Humanity International 2010).

There have been extraordinary cases of race discrimination in recent years: for instance, on 7 April 2009 a short video was aired on public television showing policemen with dogs forcing six young Roma boys to undress, scramble among themselves and kiss each other; in 2009 a wall was built to separate a Roma settlement from the village of Ostrovany in eastern Slovakia; and in 2010 local authorities in the western Slovak village of Plavecký Štvrtok bulldozed a nearby Roma settlement. This reality does not mesh with assurances given by the Government that the problems experienced by Roma living in settlements in Slovakia are gradually being addressed. NGOs have continually criticised the Fico Government for failing to develop solutions to the problems of Roma people. Very high levels of unemployment in these communities and the educational segregation of Roma children is coupled with rising unrest among the majority population who, fuelled by extremists who have organised several anti-Roma rallies since mid-2009, say they feel threatened by the spread of crime from these settlements (Stanková 2010).

Parliamentary election 2010 – A turning point?

The parliamentary election in 2010 brought about a change in Slovakia’s internal political chessboard. There was a swing away from the previous Government (made up of social democrats [Smer], nationalists [Slovak National Party] and centralists [Movement for Democratic Slovakia]) towards the ruling coalition, which includes more liberal, rightist parties, such as Slovenská demokratická a kresťanská únia (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union), Kresťansko-demokratické hnutie (Christian-Democratic Movement), Most-Híd (Bridge) and Sloboda a Solidarita (Freedom and Solidarity). The new Government is being led by the first female Prime Minister, Iveta Radičová.

It is too early to say whether or not the new Government[2] will perform any better than the previous one. However, taking into account pre-election promises and the statements of its main representatives, its efforts could herald an improvement in social and economic conditions in Slovakia. On the other hand, several of its very first measures were in violation of its pre-election promises, and the Government has already faced internal tensions between the members of different parties within the ruling coalition. Some analysts evaluated the first weeks of the Government as confusing rather than target oriented. From an international perspective, probably the most serious decision of the new Government, as well as the new Parliament, was made quite recently when Slovakia rejected a direct financial loan to Greece. The decision was criticised not only by the opposition leaders, but also by the representatives of a few EU institutions.

Recommendations: Reflections on future development and challenges

The new Government will have to face several serious challenges and must be ready to take appropriate action:

1. Corruption must be eliminated and internal and external political tensions should be calmed down: the vulgarisation of politics must be stopped and some concrete anti-corruption measures implemented – e.g., the introduction of obligatory electronic public procurements, and expansion of other ‘e-government’ instruments.
2. Some reform processes of the 1998–2006 Government should be continued – e.g., the re-introduction of territorial consolidation[3] involving the reduction of the state apparatus – and social and economic development should be stabilised to reduce both inter- and intra-regional disparities and put the economy back on track.
3. Discrimination against women should be addressed and some concrete measures implemented.
4. Issues of poverty and the situation of the Roma should become a priority of the Government, and complex policy (including not only economic and legal tools but also ‘soft’ tools like systematic civic education) must be formulated and implemented in cooperation with experts.

NGOs and the third sector should play a much stronger role in terms of political engagement with the new Government, especially in relation to policy making linked to social policy, environmental policy and regional policy. The media can also play an indispensible watchdog role and contribute to reversing the trend of corruption in Slovakia. •