Timeline Slovakia

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Country Reports: https://www.countryreports.org/country/Slovakia.htm 
Slovakia.org: http://www.slovakia.org/history1.htm
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Travel Docs: http://www.traveldocs.com/sk/index.htm

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Slovakia borders Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria and the Czech Republic to the west. Slovaks are of Slav origin and are the predominant ethnic group, accounting for 86 percent in the population of 5.4 million. Ethnic Hungarians account for 10 percent of the population. Corruption and joblessness of 17.6 percent were seen as its main economic problems in 2002.

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4800BC-4600BC    More than 150 large temples, constructed between during this period, were unearthed in fields and cities in Germany, Austria and Slovakia in 2002-2005. A village at Aythra, near Leipzig in eastern Germany, was home to some 300 people living in up to 20 large buildings around the temple.
    (AP, 6/12/05)

623-658    The first state of the Slavs living on the Middle Danube was Samo's Realm, a tribal confederation existing between 623 and 658. It encompassed the territories of Moravia, Slovakia, Lower Austria, Carantania, Sorbia at the Elbe, and probably also Bohemia, which lies between Sorbia and other parts of the realm.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Moravia)

833-900    Great Moravia was founded when Mojmir I unified two neighboring states by force, referred to in modern historiography as the "Principality of Nitra" and the "Principality of Moravia". The Slavic state existed in Central Europe from the 9th century to the early 10th century.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Moravia)

1863        The Matica Slovenska was founded as a cultural organization and nurtured the dream of Slovak independence.
    (WSJ, 4/26/96, p.A-11)

1892        A green steel Elizabeth bridge across the Danube connected Komarom in Hungary to Komarno in Slovakia, both part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its nearby twin was built in 1910 and rebuilt after detonation by Nazi German troops during World War II.
    (AFP, 11/1/18)

1918        Oct 30, Slovakia asked for the creation of Czechoslovakian state. Slovaks joined the Czechs to form Czechoslovakia. During World War II, Slovakia existed as puppet state of Nazi-run Germany.
    (MC, 10/30/01)(AP, 9/21/02)

1936        May 25, Jan Levoslav Bella (52), Slovak composer, died in Bratislava.
    (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Bella-Jan-Levoslav.htm)

1938        Sep 29, British, French, German and Italian leaders signed the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, inhabited by a German-speaking minority. The treaty ceded three areas of Czechoslovakia to other powers: the Sudetenland was annexed into Germany, the Teschen district was given to Poland, and parts of Slovakia went to Hungary. British PM Neville Chamberlain gained a brief peace agreement from Hitler at Munich and without consulting the Czechs agreed that Nazi forces could occupy Sudetenland. Some mark this "appeasement policy" as the decisive event of the century. Chamberlain predicted "peace in our time." French PM Edouard Daladier was very depressed from the meeting. In 1980 Telford Taylor published "Munich: The Price of Peace." It is a detailed political & diplomatic history of the 1930's in Europe, culminating in the Munich conference. Taylor later helped write the rules for Nuremberg Trials. In 2008 David Vaughan authored “Battle for the Airwaves: Radio and the 1938 Munich Crises.”
    (http://www.humboldt.edu/~rescuers/book/Chlup/chluplinks/munich.html)(SFC, 6/9/96, Z1 p.5)(SFC, 6/16/96, Z1 p.6)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)(AP, 9/29/06)(SFC, 5/26/98, p.B2)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.115)

1939        Mar 9, Czech President Emil Hacha ousted pro-German Joseph Tiso as the Premier of Slovakia in order to preserve Czech unity.
    (Historynet, 3/9/98)

1939        Mar 15, Germany occupied Bohemia and Moravia, Czechoslovakia. Slovakia  became independent
    (Voruta #27-28, Jul 1996, p.2)(WSJ, 12/12/96, p.A13)(HN, 3/15/98)(MC, 3/15/02)

1939        Mar, Germany set up a puppet regime. The Jewish community was estimated to number 70,000 at the start of the war. Fewer than 10,000 survived the war.
    (SFC, 6/28/97, p.A11)

1940-1945    The Benes decrees were issued by Pres. Edvard Benes, head of the Czechoslovak government in exile. Part of the decrees later dealt with the status of Germans and Hungarians in postwar Czechoslovakia. From 1945-1948 they were used to legalize brutal measures against the country’s German and Hungarian populations.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bene%C5%A1_decrees)(Econ, 3/29/08, p.67)

1942        Aug 11, Slovakian-born Adolf Burger (1917-2016) was arrested after he was caught producing fake baptism certificates for Jews to help them escape transportation to Nazi death camps. In 1944 at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany, Burger became one of 139 inmates who were put to work forging British pound notes, a top secret plan to destabilize Britain known as "Operation Bernhard." Burger described his experiences in "The Commando of Counterfeiters," a 1983 memoir. The film "The Counterfeiters" went on to win the Oscar for best foreign film in 2008.
    (AP, 12/8/16)(AFP, 12/8/16)

1944        May, Laszlo Csatary was named chief of an internment camp at a brick factory in Kosice, a Slovakian city under Hungarian rule, from where 12,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps. In 1948 he was convicted in absentia for war crimes in Czechoslovakia and sentenced to death. He arrived in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia the following year, became a Canadian citizen in 1955 and worked as an art dealer in Montreal. He left Canada in 1997 and was arrested in Hungary in 2012. In 2013 Csatary was indicted in Hungary for war crimes.
    (AP, 7/18/12)(AP, 6/18/13)

1944        Aug 29, The Slovak National Uprising broke out against the Germans.
    (SFC, 10/2/09, p.E5)

1944        Dec 26, In Slovakia American OSS personnel were captured in a surprise raid by a German intelligence unit. Slovak agent Maria Gulovich (1921-2009) helped 2 American and 2 British agents escape. In 2002 Jim Downs authored “World War II: OSS Tragedy in Slovakia.”
    (SFC, 10/2/09, p.E5)

1944        Ladislav Niznansky, a Slovak army captain, at first supported a revolt against Nazi occupation, but changed sides after he was captured. He then took charge of the Slovak section of a Nazi unit, code-named Edelweiss, that hunted resistance fighters and Jews. [see Dec 19, 2005]
    (AP, 12/19/05)
   
1945        Jan 21, The Nazi Edelweiss unit participated in a bloody operation against two villages in central Slovakia as punishment for local support of Soviet-backed rebels.
    (AP, 12/19/05)

1945        Feb 7, German troops and allied Slovak irregulars massacred 18 Jewish civilians discovered hiding in underground bunkers at Ksina, Slovakia.
    (AP, 12/19/05)

1945        Slovakia reunited with the Czechs.
    (AP, 9/21/02)

1946        Vojtech Tuka was executed. He had been the prime minister of pro-Nazi Slovakia during the war.
    (SFC, 7/25/97, p.A12)

1947        Father Jozef Tiso ruled Slovakia while it was a Nazi state and in this year he was captured by the Americans and executed for war crimes. During his rule 70,000 Slovakian Jews were sent to Nazi death camps.
    (WSJ, 4/26/96, p.A-11)(Econ, 3/13/10, p.57)

1968        Aug 3, The Bratislava statement conceded Czechoslovakia’s right to pursue its own path. The conference was held in Bratislava, Slovakia, for representatives of the communist and workers' parties of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the Hungarian People's Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Polish People's Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1687)(http://library.thinkquest.org/C001155/documents/doc41.htm)

1972        Aug 22, In Bratislava, Slovakia, the Novy Most (New Bridge) opened over the Danube. A section of the Old Town was bulldozed for its creation.
    (Econ, 6/17/06, p.20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nov%C3%BD_Most_Bratislava)

1989        Nov 29, The Czechs ended the Communist party's 40-year monopoly on power. The revolution in Czechoslovakia was called the “Velvet Revolution” because of the little violence.
    (HFA, '96, p.18)(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.34)(AP, 11/29/99)

1989        Dec 8, Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia offered to surrender their control over the government and accept a minority role in a coalition Cabinet.
    (AP, 12/8/99)

1989        Dec 10, Czechoslovakia's president, Gustav Husak, resigned after swearing in a coalition cabinet in which Communists were relegated to a minority role.
    (AP, 12/10/99)

1991        Feb 15, In Visegrad, Hungary, a declaration of co-operation was signed by Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The 4 became known as the Visegrad countries.
    (Econ, 11/22/03, p.10S)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visegr%C3%A1d_Group)

1992        Jul 17, Slovakia's government decreed its independence from Czechoslovakia. The independence did not become official until January 1, 1993.
    (www.slovakia.org/society-hungary2.htm)

1992        Dec 31, The Nation of Czechoslovakia officially ended with division into two Nations: Slovakia and the Czech Republic. When the country split, all citizens were deemed to be either Czech or Slovak, based on their parentage. The vast majority of the Romany living in the Czech Republic are of Slovak descent, and they had to apply for Czech citizenship. In 2009 Mary Haimann authored “Czechoslovakia: The State That Failed.”
    (HFA, '96, p.44)(SFC, 5/13/96, p.A-8)(Econ, 11/21/09, p.84)

1993        Jan 1, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Slovak people never voted on the 1993 split with the Czechs. When the country split, all citizens were deemed to be either Czech or Slovak, based on their parentage. The vast majority of the Romany living in the Czech Republic are of Slovak descent, and they had to apply for Czech citizenship. Vladimir Meciar (b.1942) became the premier of Slovakia and Vaclav Klaus the premier of the Czech Rep.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladim%C3%ADr_Me%C4%8Diar)(AP, 9/21/02)(WSJ, 4/26/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 5/13/96, p.A-8)(AP, 1/1/98)

1993        Nov 16, Lucia Popp (54), Slovakia-born soprano (Vienna Opera), died in Munich.
    (www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Popp-Lucia.htm)

1993        In Slovakia Michal Kovac was elected president.
    (SFC, 5/29/97, p.A13)

1993-1998    In Slovakia Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar governed during a period marked by international isolation. The country's failure to join NATO along with some of its neighbors in 1999 was attributed to Western dislike of Meciar's undemocratic practices.
    (AP, 9/21/02)

1994        Mar, In Slovakia Pres. Kovac called for and parliament approved the removal of prime minister Vladimir Meciar. Later in the year Meciar’s party won a plurality and he was renamed prime minister.
    (SFC, 5/29/97, p.A13)

1994        Meciar’s party won a plurality and he was renamed prime minister.
    (SFC, 5/29/97, p.A13)

1995        Aug, Michal Kovac Jr. (34), the son of Pres. Michal Kovac Sr., was kidnapped and later dumped drugged and unconscious in front of a police station in Vienna. An Austrian court soon released him because of the illegal manner of his detainment.
    (SFC, 4/21/00, p.A18)(Econ, 4/1/17, p.45)

1996         Jan, In Bratislava Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and his allies chipped away at all forms of independent power. President Michal Kovac in a feud with Meciar stated that the country's politics had stepped beyond the bounds of democracy. The country is bordered by Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
    (WSJ, 1/17/96, p.A-14)

1996        Oct 17, Some 10,000 people demonstrated against Culture Minister Ivan Hudec for firing National Theater director Dusan Jamrich. Slovak artists claim that the government is increasingly authoritarian.
    (SFC, 10/18/96, C6)

1997        May 25, In weekend elections less than 10% of the people bothered to vote after government meddling led opposition leaders to call for a boycott.
    (SFC, 5/29/97, p.A13)

1997        Jul 19, From Slovakia it was reported that Bratislava had become a narcotics depot and crossroad of the Balkan drug route from Turkey and Central Asia.
    (SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)

1997        Slovakia was bumped from Nato’s invitation list and excluded as a candidate for the EU.
    (WSJ, 6/14/01, p.B14)

1997        Martin Klein, Slovak journalist, wrote a profanity-laced attack on Jan Sokol, the archbishop of Slovakia, who wanted to bann the Milos Forman film “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and its poster. Klein was charged with defaming the Roman Catholic faith and lost his court case. In 2005 the suit moved up to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
    (SSFC, 7/24/05, p.C2)

1998        Mar, The 5-year term of Pres. Kovac expired.
    (SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A21)

1998        Sep 27, In Slovakia opposition leaders claimed victory after 2 days of elections for a new parliament. Prime Minister Meciar’s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia won 27% of the vote. Slovak Democratic Coalition leader Mikulas Dzurinda was seen as Meciar’s successor.
    (SFC, 9/28/98, p.A9)

1998        Oct 28, Four Slovak opposition parties formed a centre-right coalition government under Mikulas Dzurinda.
    (SFC, 10/29/98, p.A14)(Econ, 3/27/04, p.52)

1999        Apr 19, One of the annual Goldman Environmental Prizes went to: Michal Kravcik, a Slovakian hydrologist, who successfully fought a government plan to dam the Upper Torysa River in 1996.
    (SFC, 4/19/99, p.A2)

1999        May 15, In Slovakia presidential elections were held and Rudolf Schuster (65), mayor of Kosice, was the front runner over Vladimir Meciar (57). Schuster won 47% of the vote to Meciar's 37% and a runoff was scheduled for May 29.
    (SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A21)(SFC, 5/17/99, p.A10)

1999        May 29, In Slovakia Rudolf Schuster was elected president in a runoff election against Vladimir Meciar, the authoritarian former prime minister.
    (WSJ, 6/1/99, p.A1)

1999        Dec 10, The EU granted preliminary consideration for membership to Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Malta.
    (SFC, 12/11/99, p.A16)

2000        Apr, In Slovakia police arrested former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar for paying unauthorized bonuses to Cabinet members during his 5 years in office. He was released after several hours.
    (SFC, 4/21/00, p.A18)

2000        Oct, US Steel announced the last steps in its acquisition of Vychodoslovenske zelziarne AS (VSZ), the majority of the country’s steel industry.
    (WSJ, 10/12/00, p.A1)

2000        Oct-2000 Feb, Slovak brokers were involved in a plan to ship Mi24 helicopter gunships from Kyrgyzstan to Liberia. One was shipped and another was confiscated by Slovak customs agents.
    (WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)

2001        Jun 11, In Slovakia 17 Indian would-be immigrants were believed to have drowned while trying to cross the Morava River from Slovakia to the Czech Republic.
    (SFC, 6/14/01, p.C3)

2001        The new Maria Valeria Bridge over the Danube reunited Sturovo, Slovakia, with Esztergom, Hungary. Germans blew up the old bridge in 1944.
    (WSJ, 4/5/05, p.A15)

2002        Sep 21, In Slovakia Vladimir Meciar, the authoritarian former prime minister, appeared to edge out his rivals in elections, but he was without the support needed to catapult him to power in the face of united opposition. Mikulas Dzurinda was re-elected as PM.
    (AP, 9/21/02)(Econ, 6/3/06, p.45)

2002        Sep 26, NATO planned to issue invitations in November to Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Expansion would commit the current 19 members to defend the borders of the new members.
    (SFC, 9/26/02, p.A1)

2002        Oct 9, The European Union's executive Commission declared Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia nearly ready for EU membership and recommended they be invited to join in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria likely will be delayed until 2007 because of weak economies, the Commission said, adding Turkey was the weakest link among candidates.
    (AP, 10/9/02)

2002        Nov 21, The Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania joined former communist states Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as the next wave of NATO states.
    (AP, 11/21/02)

2002        Dec 13, The EU reached agreement to accept 10 new countries in 2004. These included Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
    (SFC, 12/14/02, p.A3)

2003        Apr 15, Slovakia Pres. Rudolf Schuster signed an accession document committing Slovakia to joining NATO, the next-to-last step on the long road to membership in the military alliance.
    (AP, 4/15/03)

2003        May 16, Slovak voters began a two-day referendum to reaffirm their nation's top foreign policy goal to be membership in the European Union.
    (AP, 5/16/03)

2003        May 17, Slovaks in a 2-day plebiscite voted to join the European Union. About 92 percent of voters approved EU membership, with a turnout of some 52 percent.
    (AP, 5/17/03)

2003        Jul 3, Slovakia's parliament approved an amendment to make abortion legal until the 24th week of pregnancy.
    (AP, 7/3/03)

2003        Sep 11, Weary and trembling, Pope John Paul II struggled to greet Slovaks as he began a four-day visit.
    (AP, 9/11/03)

2003        Sep 14, Pope John Paul II wrapped up a pilgrimage to Slovakia by beatifying two clerics, Greek Catholic Bishop Vasil Hopko and Roman Catholic Sister Zdenka Schelingova, who were jailed and tortured under the former communist regime.
    (AP, 9/14/03)

2003        The Slovak parliament voted to cut taxes on personal incomes and for a single flat rate of 19% on corporate profits effective in 2004. The statutory retirement age was raised and a new pay-as-go pension scheme was created to be supplemented by privatization revenues.
    (Econ, 11/8/03, p.48)

2003        PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s 2nd biggest carmaker, decided to make the successor of its 206 model in Trnava, Slovakia. The car had been manufactured in the Ryton factory near Coventry, England.
    (Econ, 4/22/06, p.55)

2004        Mar 29, Pres. Bush hosted a White House ceremony to welcome Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
    (WSJ, 3/30/04, p.A1)

2004        Mar, KIA Motors, a unit of South Korea’s Hyundai group, decided to build a new $850 million plant in Slovakia, where corporate and personal taxes were recently cut to a flat 19%.
    (Econ, 3/6/04, p.60)

2004        Apr 2, In Brussels an official ceremony welcomed Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
    (SFC, 4/3/04, p.A11)

2004        Apr 3, Slovaks voted for a new president. Former authoritarian PM Meciar led after the first round of Slovakia's presidential election. Low turnout set up an Apr 17 runoff against a former political ally.
    (AP, 4/4/04)(WSJ, 4/5/04, p.A1)

2004        Apr 17, In Slovakia Ivan Gasparovic (63), an ex-chairman of parliament previously loyal to ex-PM Vladimir Meciar (61), won a presidential runoff against Meciar with 59.91 percent of the vote. The turnout was 43.5%.
    (AP, 4/18/04)(Econ, 4/24/04, p.49)

2004        Apr 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and EU officials signed an accord extending the EU-Russia partnership accord to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta, which join May 1.
    (AP, 4/27/04)

2004        May 1, Revelers across ex-communist eastern Europe celebrated their historic entry to the European Union. 10 new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) joined. Malta joined with 70 exemptions to EU rules. Poland had 43 exemptions. Latvia had 32. The Turkish occupied area of Cyprus was suspended from entry.
    (AP, 5/1/04)(Econ, 2/28/04, p.50)(Econ, 4/16/05, p.16)

2004        Sep, Unemployment in Slovakia fell to 13.1% from 20% in 2002. The average household income was around $240 per month.
    (WSJ, 11/3/04, p.B2F)(SSFC, 11/21/04, p.B3)

2005        Jan 1, Slovakia was forecast for 5.1% annual GDP growth with a population at 5.4 million and GDP per head at $8,940.
    (Econ, 1/8/05, p.89)

2005        May 11, Lawmakers in Austria and neighboring Slovakia voted overwhelmingly to ratify the new European constitution, giving much-needed support to the charter intended to strengthen the 25-member European Union.
    (AP, 5/12/05)

2005        Jul, Unemployment in Slovakia stood at 15.2%.
    (WSJ, 9/21/05, p.A7)

2005        Nov 25, Slovakia joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) as a first step towards adopting the European Union's common euro currency.
    (AFP, 11/26/05)

2005        Dec 19, Ladislav Niznansky (88), a former Nazi commander, was acquitted of murder in three massacres in Slovakia after a court said there was no reliable evidence he was involved in the killings. Niznansky, a former Slovak army captain who at first supported the 1944 revolt, changed sides after he was captured and took charge of the Slovak section of a Nazi unit, code-named Edelweiss, that hunted resistance fighters and Jews. He was convicted of the massacres and sentenced to death in absentia by Czechoslovakia in 1962.
    (AP, 12/19/05)

2005        Dec 31, In Slovakia 7 tourists from the Czech Republic died in avalanches in the Tatra mountains. A day earlier a German was killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.
    (AFP, 12/31/05)

2005        In Bratislava, Slovakia, the new Eurovea Int’l. Trade Center began developing on the riverfront. The 1st phase was expected to complete in 2009.
    (WSJ, 9/21/05, p.A7)

2006        Jan 19, In northeastern Hungary a Slovak military plane crashed as it ferried troops back from Kosovo, killing at least 42 people. Only one person survived the crash of the AN-24 aircraft.
    (AP, 1/20/06)

2006        Jun 6, The Spanish interior ministry said that 67 suspects had been arrested for accessing child porn on the Internet over the past five days. The international police operation arrested 38 in France, 10 in Spain, 9 in Slovakia, 7 in Belgium and 3 in the Netherlands.
    (AP, 6/6/06)

2006        Jun 17, Slovaks voted in their first election since joining the EU, choosing between a record third term for PM Mikulas Dzurinda or a leftist pledging to overturn economic and social reforms. Smer, Slovakia's opposition leftist party led by Robert Fico, won the parliamentary elections, tapping into widespread public discontent over eight years of austere economic reforms.
    (AP, 6/17/06)(AP, 6/18/06)(Econ, 7/8/06, p.44)

2006        Jun 18, Slovakia's leftist Smer party promised a radical break with economic reforms on after winning an election that showed voters' fatigue with the tough changes made during eight years of center-right rule.
    (Reuters, 6/18/06)

2006        Jul 25, The Slovak central bank raised key interest rates by 50 basis points.
    (Econ, 8/12/06, p.43)(www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok.asp?cl=24271)

2007        Mar 2, An explosion in a Slovakian ammunition factory killed two people, left six missing and injured 45, five seriously.
    (AP, 3/2/07)

2007        Aug 21, Hana Ponicka (85), a Slovak writer and former anti-communist dissident, died.
    (AP, 8/22/07)

2007        Nov 28, Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian were arrested in eastern Slovakia and Hungary in an attempted sale of a kilo  (2.2 lbs) of uranium, material believed to be from the former Soviet Union. Police said it was enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb."
    (AP, 11/29/07)

2007        Dec 20, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic halted land and sea border controls at midnight in a wave of new members of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone. They all joined the EU on May 1, 2004.
    (AFP, 12/20/07)(WSJ, 12/21/07, p.A1)

2008        Mar 17, The US administration signed deals with Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia paving the way for visa-free travel for their citizens despite concerns in Brussels over the bilateral agreements.
    (AFP, 3/17/08)

2008        May 28, Slovakia revalued its currency. Finance minister Jan Pociatek was soon accused of leaking news of the revaluation to J&T, Slovakia’s leading investment fund.
    (Econ, 6/28/08, p.58)

2008        Jun 1, In Slovakia a new media law was set to go into effect giving anyone mentioned in an article sweeping rights to an equally prominent rebuttal. Newspapers responded by publishing blank front pages. Leading newspapers had done this twice before during the Meciar years to protest restrictions on press freedom.
    (Econ, 4/26/08, p.71)(Econ, 11/21/09, p.55)

2008        Jul 8, The EU formally invited Slovakia to join the euro zone on Jan. 1, 2009.
    (AP, 7/8/08)

2009        Jan 1, Slovakia became the 16th European Union member state to adopt the euro. This day also marks 10 years since the euro was introduced.
    (AP, 1/1/09)

2009        Jan 11, Slovakia reopened a nuclear power plant it was forced to shut down as part of its bid to join the European Union, prompting condemnation from neighboring Austria, which described the reactor at Bohunice as unsafe.
    (AP, 1/11/09)

2009        Jan 14, Russia and Ukraine wrangled over gas supplies again. Bulgaria and Slovakia, cut off by the row for a freezing week, launched missions to plead for Russian gas flow to be restored.
    (Reuters, 1/14/09)

2009        Jan 22, European Union antitrust regulators said they raided Slovakia's main telecom operator last week on suspicion of monopoly abuse.
    (AP, 1/22/09)

2009        Feb 21, In central Slovakia a train collided with a bus, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others near the town of Brezno.
    (AP, 2/21/09)

2009        Apr 4, In Slovakia Pres. Ovan Gasparovic was re-elected for a 2nd 5-year term with 55% of the vote over Iveta Radicova, who had hoped to become Slovakia’s 1st female president.
    (WSJ, 4/6/09, p.A8)

2009        Aug 10, In central Slovakia 19 workers were trapped underground after a fire and explosion hit the Handlova coal mine. The trapped workers were nine miners who were initially sent to battle a blaze and 11 sent as reinforcements as the fire grew. All were believed killed.
    (AP, 8/10/09)(AP, 8/11/09)

2009        Aug 21, Slovakia stopped Hungary’s Pres. Laszlo Solyom from crossing its border. This was a breach of EU rules on freedom of movement.  Solyom had planned to unveil a statue of St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary, in the predominantly Hungarian city of Komarno. Slovakia’s government had objected to the visit as the date coincided with the “Prague Spring” of 1968, when Hungary, as part of the Warsaw pact, took part in the Soviet crush of Czechoslovakia’s independence movement.
    (Econ, 8/29/09, p.46)

2009        Sep 1, In Slovakia a new language law was scheduled to come into force to promote the use of Slovak in public. Hungarian speakers, who numbered about a fifth of the population, viewed this as a direct attack on their right to speak their mother-tongue.
    (Econ, 8/1/09, p.47)

2009        Sep 9, The Dalai Lama received Slovakia's Jan Langos award for his promotion of human rights and his leadership in the nonviolent campaign by Tibetans seeking autonomy from China. The Jan Langos Foundation gives its award to "an outstanding figure of the local defiance against oppressed regimes and their security services" and to civil servants and politicians who "endeavor for human dignity and freedom."
    (AP, 9/9/09)

2009        Nov 17, Slovakia pledged about 250 extra soldiers to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, the first of what British PM Gordon Brown said would be a series of international reinforcements.
    (AP, 11/18/09)

2009        Dec 28, Slovakia said that Russia had warned it might halt oil supplies through Ukraine to three European Union countries over a price dispute.
    (AFP, 12/28/09)

2010        Jan 19, The Slovak Foreign Ministry said the country has agreed to take in three inmates from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in an effort to help President Barack Obama to close it down.
    (AP, 1/19/10)

2010        Jan 24, The US sent 3 detainees held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Slovakia, the latest transfers as the Obama administration tries to close the facility.
    (Reuters, 1/25/10)

2010        May 18, In southern Poland 2 days of flooding killed at least five people. Officials closed the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site to protect its Holocaust archives and artifacts. Heavy rains that began in central Europe last weekend also caused flooding in areas of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with rivers bursting their banks and inundating low-lying homes and roads, and cutting off villages.
    (AP, 5/18/10)

2010        May 22, In Slovakia authorities in Bratislava called off the country’s first-ever gay pride parade following attacks by neo-Nazis.
    (SSFC, 5/23/10, p.A6)

2010        Jun 12, Slovakia's three party governing coalition fought for survival in a parliamentary election, challenged in a tight race by the center-right opposition. Voters handed PM Robert Fico a setback by giving the center-right opposition a majority.
    (AP, 6/12/10)(AP, 6/13/10)

2010        Jul 9, Slovakia’s Pres. Ovan Gasparovic appointed a new center-right government led by Iveta Radicova, the country’s first female prime minister.
    (SFC, 7/10/10, p.A2)

2010        Aug 30, In Slovakia a gunman killed 7 people and wounded 14 in an attack at an apartment building in Bratislava, then committed suicide.
    (AP, 8/30/10)(Econ, 9/4/10, p.55)

2010        Nov 3, Slovakia’s government agreed to deploy up to 348 service members in the NATO-force in Afghanistan next year, up from the current 299. The decision still needed parliamentary approval.
    (AP, 11/3/10)

2010        Nov 8, In Slovakia Ernest Valko (57), the former chief judge of Czechoslovakia's Constitutional Court, was shot to death in his home in Limbach. As a lawyer, he represented the Slovak government and served as a legal adviser for the National Property Fund, an institution in charge state property privatization.
    (AP, 11/9/10)

2011        May 10, In Slovakia Jaroslava Oravcova (43) was wounded after a gunbattle with officers during an undercover police operation to apprehend him. Police believe the man used the Internet to search for a person who wanted to commit suicide and would agree to let him eat the body. Oravcova died from his wounds on May 12.
    (AP, 5/12/11)

2011        Oct 11, Slovakia’s government fell when Parliament failed to approve more powers for an EU bailout fund in a vote tied to a confidence vote in Radicova's 1-year-old government. The vote failed because a coalition partner refused to support it. The parliament rejected a bill that would have strengthened the powers of the regional rescue fund to help bail out strapped economies in the eurozone. Outgoing PM Iveta Radicova and her main opponent said they will work to try to get the bill through Parliament.
    (AP, 10/12/11)(AP, 10/14/11)

2011        Oct 13, Slovakia’s Parliament approved an expanded EU fund in a repeat vote after the opposition voted in favor in exchange for early elections.
    (AP, 10/14/11)

2011        Oct 14, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic said he will dismiss PM Iveta Radicova's coalition government. It had lost a parliamentary confidence vote on Oct 11.
    (AP, 10/14/11)

2011        Dec 1, In Slovakia more than 1,200 doctors of some 7,000 from public hospitals resigned from their posts over low pay, forcing hospitals to delay planned operations and focus on necessary treatment. A new deal was announced on Dec 3 that will ensure salaries for doctors in the state-run hospitals of up to 2.3 times higher than average.
    (AP, 12/3/11)

2011        Dec, In Slovakia the "Gorilla" files were mysteriously posted online by an anonymous source. They purportedly documented shady dealings between 2005 and 2006, and suggest that investment group Penta bribed government and opposition politicians to win lucrative privatization deals. They were said to be based on wiretaps and rocked the already-raucous world of Slovak politics. The spy agency, SIS, has refused to confirm the file's authenticity. SIS heads are suspected of sweeping the wiretap findings under the carpet. Police began investigating following the anonymous leak.
    (AP, 3/8/12)

2012        Mar 10, Slovakia held elections. The Smer-Social Democracy party of former PM Robert Fico was the clear winner with 44.4 percent of the vote, or 83 seats in the 150-seat Parliament, with votes from all 5,956 polling stations counted.
    (AP, 3/11/12)

2012        Jul 2, The Vatican said that Pope Benedict has "relieved from pastoral care" Bishop Robert Bezak of Trnava, Slovakia. Italian news reports suggested administrative problems were to blame.
    (AP, 7/3/12)

2012        Jul 15, The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center confirmed that Laszlo Csatary (97), accused of complicity in the killings of 15,700 Jews, had been tracked down to the Hungarian capital. He served during World War II as a senior Hungarian police officer in the Slovakian city of Kosice, then under Hungarian rule.
    (AFP, 7/16/12)

2013        Jan, Iran arrested Slovak national  Matej Valuch (26) and accused him of spying for the US CIA. On Feb 8 Valuch was released and returned home.
    (AP, 2/8/13)

2013        Apr 15, Metropolitan Krystof (59), head of the Orthodox Church in the Czech Rep. and Slovakia resigned amid allegations of affairs with women and fathering illegitimate children.
    (SFC, 4/16/13, p.A2)

2013        Jun 4, Flooding continued along the Danube and other southern European rivers. The dead included 8 people in the Czech Republic, 4 in Germany, 4 in Austria and one in Slovakia.
    (AP, 6/5/13)

2013        Jun 9, At least 21 flood-related deaths have been reported in central Europe. A week of heavy rains and flooding caused extensive damage in central and southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.
    (AP, 6/9/13)

2013        Jun 28, The Slovak news website www.sme.sk said a group of five or six Slovak hang-glider enthusiasts were detained 3 weeks ago in Iran on suspicion of espionage.
    (Reuters, 6/28/13)

2013        Dec 11, Iran released the last two of eight Slovak paragliders arrested for allegedly spying after PM Robert Fico and Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak flew in to secure their release.
    (AFP, 12/12/13)

2013        Dec 31, US officials said Slovakia has accepted three Uighur prisoners from Guantanamo Bay who had posed a difficult resettlement challenge.
    (AP, 12/31/13)

2014        Mar 15, Slovaks voted in the first round of a presidential election, a largely ceremonial post. PM Robert Fico and businessman-turned philanthropist Andrej Kiska (51) beat 12 other candidates in the first round of voting. Turnout was low at 43.4 percent. Both men will compete in a March 29 election.
    (AFP, 3/15/14)(AP, 3/16/14)

2014        Mar 29, Slovak voters turned out in unexpectedly higher numbers for the runoff in the country's presidential election as underdog philanthropist Andrej Kiska challenged political heavyweight PM Robert Fico. Andrej Kiska trounced PM Robert Fico in the presidential election.
    (Reuters, 3/29/14)(Reuters, 3/29/14)

2014        Apr 16, Slovak police said they have arrested two men after they allegedly produced counterfeit Czech and Swiss banknotes of "exceptionally" high quality and spent at least 1.2 million koruna ($60,000) of the fake cash in shopping malls over the past three years.
    (AP, 4/16/14)

2014        Jun 4, Slovakia joined neighbor the Czech Republic in effectively ruling out hosting NATO units, when PM Robert Fico said he could not imagine there would be foreign soldiers on its territory.
    (Reuters, 6/4/14)

2014        Jun 15, Slovakia inaugurated Andrej Kiska (51) its 4th president since independence in 1993. He vowed continued cooperation with the EU and NATO amid concerns about security in neighboring Ukraine.
    (AP, 6/15/14)

2014        Jun 26, A Slovak court in Bratislava ruled that Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis, a rising star of the Czech politics, did not collaborate with the communist-era secret police.
    (AP, 6/26/14)

2014        Aug 31, Slovakia's PM Robert Fico slammed EU sanctions on Russia as "meaningless and counterproductive" and threatened to veto additional measures, highlighting the internal divide within the EU over its tough stance on Russia.
    (Reuters, 8/31/14)

2014        Sep 16, Slovak gas importer SPP reported a 25 percent reduction in gas supplies from Russia via Ukraine, the biggest drop since a decline in deliveries was first reported last week.
    (Reuters, 9/16/14)

2014        Sep, The European commission launched a case against the Czech Rep. over the one-third number of Roma in schools for the mentally disabled. The following April it did the same for Slovakia.
    (Econ, 6/6/15, p.44)

2014        Dec 4, Slovakia's PM Robert Fico said his government is terminating the lease of a major state-owned hydro power plant to Enel, an Italian energy company. Enel owns a 66 percent stake in Slovakia's major power producer, Slovenske elektrarne, and is currently trying to sell its share. The government owns the remaining 34 percent.
    (AP, 12/4/14)

2015        Feb 7, Slovaks voted in a nationwide a referendum that would bar gay marriages and adoptions, and allow parents to decide whether their children attend sex education classes. The votes won't count unless at least half of the eligible voters turn out. Voters overwhelmingly voted "yes" — 95, 92 and 90 percent, respectively — to the three questions. But turnout reached only 21.4 percent, far less than the 50 percent needed.
    (AP, 2/7/15)(AP, 2/8/15)

2015        Feb 19, In Slovakia thousands of court officials went on a one-day warning strike, complaining of low pay and underfunding of the legal system.
    (AP, 2/19/15)

2015        Jun 20, In Slovakia at least 140 people were arrested after violence broke out at an anti-immigration rally in Bratislava attended by thousands of people in protest at EU quotas on migrant numbers.
    (AFP, 6/20/15)

2015        Jul 3, Slovakia's spy agency in its annual report said Russian agents have significantly increased their activities in Slovakia and all other NATO and European Union countries in connection with the crisis in Ukraine.
    (AP, 7/3/15)

2015        Aug 20, In Slovakia two planes carrying dozens of parachutists collided in midair, killing 7 people. 31 others on board survived by jumping out with their parachutes.
    (AP, 8/20/15)

2015        Sep 4, In a joint statement the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia rejected any quota system for accepting migrants in the European Union's 28 members.
    (AP, 9/4/15)

2015        Sep 10, The prime ministers of Slovakia and Ukraine condemned a recent deal to expand a pipeline that delivers natural gas directly from Russia to Germany. An agreement signed earlier this month between Russian giant Gazprom and energy companies from Western EU countries, including E.ON, OMV, Royal Dutch Shell and others, is meant to expand the current Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea that directly links Germany with Siberia's natural gas reserves.
    (AP, 9/10/15)

2015        Sep 14, Austria and Slovakia said they were reinstating border controls to cope with a flood of refugees, following a similar move by Germany, which warned it could face up to one million migrant arrivals this year.
    (AFP, 9/14/15)

2015        Sep 15, PM Robert Fico said Slovakia will never support mandatory quotas as part of the European Union's response to its migrant crisis.
    (Reuters, 9/15/15)

2015        Nov 13, A Ukrainian helicopter crashed in eastern Slovakia, killing 6 people.
    (AP, 11/13/15)

2015        Nov 27, Slovakia's economy minister said his country will join forces with other Central and Eastern members of the European Union to protest a recent deal to expand a pipeline that delivers natural gas directly from Russia to Germany.
    (AP, 11/27/15)

2015        Dec 2, Slovakia filed a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice against a European Union decision to redistribute 120,000 asylum seekers among member countries.
    (Reuters, 12/2/15)

2015        Dec 5, Slovakia's leftist PM Robert Fico (51) promised to protect voters from international terrorism and unveiled a billion euro welfare plan as he launched campaign for a third term in office.
    (Reuters, 12/5/15)

2015        Dec 8, The Slovak Parliament amended the constitution to give authorities more powers to deal with terror suspects following the attacks in Paris.
    (AP, 12/8/15)

2015        Dec 11, Jaguar Land Rover signed a deal with the Slovak government to build a new plant for the luxury car maker in Slovakia.
    (AP, 12/11/15)

2016        Jan 25, Thousands of Slovak teachers went on strike to demand higher pay, forcing authorities to close hundreds of schools across the country.
    (AP, 1/25/16)

2016        Feb, In Slovakia Zuzana Hlavkova (26), an employee in the foreign ministry, reported to her superiors that inflated contracts tied to the country’s presidency of the European Council, were being awarded to firms allied with the governing Smer party. When nothing happened she quit her job and took her evidence to the local branch of Transparency Int’l. In November they went public.
    (Econ, 12/3/16, p.43)

2016        Mar 5, Slovaks voted in a general election expected to hand firebrand leftist PM Robert Fico a third term on the back of a staunchly anti-refugee platform. The leftist ruling party won the parliamentary election, but will need coalition partners to form a majority government. The anti-immigration, anti-euro People's Party-Our Slovakia shocked many when it won 8 percent of the vote, or almost 210,000 votes, to enter parliament for the first time.
    (AFP, 3/5/16)(AP, 3/6/16)(Reuters, 6/25/16)

2016        Apr 18, Zuzana Caputova (42) of Slovakia was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. She was recognized for her efforts stopping foreign trash facilities from being built in her country.
    (SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)

2016        Jun 25, Slovakia's far right People's Party launched a petition for a referendum on the country's EU membership, the latest state to see a challenge following Britain's vote to leave the bloc.
    (Reuters, 6/25/16)

2016        Nov 23, Slovak PM Robert Fico told journalists they were "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes" when asked about allegations that public procurement rules had been broken for cultural events marking Slovakia's European Union presidency.
    (Reuters, 11/23/16)

2016        Nov 30, Slovakia passed legislation to effectively block Islam from gaining official status as a religion in the near future in the latest sign of growing anti-Muslim sentiment across the European Union.
    (Reuters, 11/30/16)

2017        Jan 1, In Slovakia train and railway station patrols set up by a far-right parliamentary party became illegal as of today.    The People's Party Our Slovakia had launched the unarmed patrols in April following a violent incident on a passenger train, claiming the state was unable to keep people safe.
    (AP, 1/1/17)

2017        Jan 9, The Czech Republic said it has approved a plan for Czech and Slovak air forces to cooperate in protecting air spaces over the two neighboring countries that once formed Czechoslovakia. Slovakia's government had already approved the deal.
    (AP, 1/9/17)

2017        Jan 31, Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico Slovakia introduced a new police unit to fight terrorism and far-right extremism.
    (AP, 2/1/17)

2017        Mar 2, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia urged the European Union to boost the role of national parliaments under a planned overhaul of the bloc's decision-making process.
    (Reuters, 3/2/17)

2017        Mar 13, Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico said he would revoke an amnesty law passed by former PM Vladimir Meciar.
    (Econ, 4/1/17, p.45)

2017        Mar 28, The central European Visegrad Group (Czech Rep., Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) rejected a European Union policy that calls for all member states to receive migrants, protesting suggestions that the level of their compliance could be linked to the availability of EU funds to them.
    (AP, 3/28/17)

2017        Apr 3, Slovakia's Pres. Andrej Kiska signed a constitutional amendment that makes it possible for lawmakers to annul pardons granted by former PM Vladimir Meciar that barred an investigation into the kidnapping of the son of late Pres. Michal Kovac.
    (AP, 4/3/17)

2017        May 25, Slovak prosecutors took steps to ban a far-right party that won its first parliamentary seats last year, saying it posed a threat to the country's democratic system. The People's Party-Our Slovakia, which openly admires Jozef Tiso, leader of a Nazi puppet state that ruled the country during World War Two, won a larger-than-expected 8 percent of the vote in national elections in March 2016.
    (Reuters, 5/25/17)

2017        Jun 12, Researchers say they've discovered a worrying breed of power grid-wrecking software, saying the program was likely responsible for a brief blackout that hit Kiev late last year. Slovakia-based computer security company ESET and Maryland-based Dragos, Inc. published a report saying that the malicious software has the ability to control the switches and circuit breakers.
    (AP, 6/12/17)

2017        Jun 23, French President Emmanuel Macron and four eastern European Union leaders (Visegrad-4) sought to turn the page after publicly trading barbs over their differences on issues ranging from jobs to the bloc’s fundamental values. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic say they should be allowed to compete on lower prices - just as more developed western EU nations compete on quality products and know-how - to catch up after decades of communist stagnation.
    (Reuters, 6/23/17)

2017        Jul 27, Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico took a fight about the quality of food on his country's supermarket shelves to the European Commission, calling for action to stop companies selling lower-quality products in Central and Eastern Europe than elsewhere in the continent.
    (AP, 7/27/17)

2017        Aug 7, In Slovakia a junior partner in the ruling coalition, the Slovak National Party (SNS), surprised its partners by pulling out of an agreement underpinning the government and calling for a new deal.
    (Reuters, 8/7/17)

2017        Sep 6, The European Union's highest court ruled that EU states must take in a share of refugees who reach Europe, dismissing complaints by Slovakia and Hungary and reigniting an angry row between east and west.
    (Reuters, 9/6/17)

2017        Sep 11, In Slovakia the leaders of the three parties that form the governing coalition signed an amendment to their deal to rule together. This ended a crisis that began last month after a junior partner, the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party, unexpectedly announced it was withdrawing from it.
    (AP, 9/11/17)

2017        Oct 12, Slovakia's Constitutional Court ordered a lower court to look again at claims that Andrej Babis, the man who hopes to be the Czech Republic's next prime minister, collaborated with the Czechoslovak communist-era secret police.
    (AP, 10/12/17)

2017        Nov 15, Slovakia's government approved plans to build military armored vehicles with the Finnish defense industry company Patria to replace the NATO member's outdated armored personnel carriers.
    (Reuters, 11/15/17)

2017        Dec 9, In Germany the Swedish comedy "The Square" swept this year's European Film Awards in Berlin, winning six prizes, including for best film, director and screenwriter. This year's best actress award went to Alexandra Borbely of Slovakia for her role in "On Body and Soul."
    (AP, 12/10/17)

2017        Dec 14, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia announced that they plan to spend around 35 million euros ($41 million) to beef up European Union borders as they come under pressure for refusing to accept refugee quotas.
    (AP, 12/14/17)

2018        Feb 21, Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico said his country will not ratify a European treaty designed to combat violence against women, bowing to opposition from junior coalition partner and religious groups. Fico said that though Slovakia would adopt into law all measures aimed at combating violence against women, it would not ratify the treaty, which he said was a controversial document that could violate the constitution and lead to the introduction of same-sex marriage.
    (Reuters, 2/22/18)
2018        Feb 21, In Slovakia journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova, both 27, were shot dead at their home in the town of Velka Maca, east of Bratislava.
    (AP, 2/21/22)

2018        Feb 25, Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak (27) and his girlfriend were found dead at his home in Velka Maca, 65 km (40 miles) east of the capital Bratislava. Kuciak was working on a story about the activities of Italian mafia in Slovakia and their links to people close to PM Robert Fico. On Feb. 28 Kuciak's Aktuality.sk news website published his last, unfinished story. In 2019 four suspects were indicted.
    (Reuters, 2/26/18)(AP, 2/28/18)(SFC, 10/22/19, p.A2)

2018        Mar 1, Slovak police raided houses linked to the alleged members of the Italian 'ndrangheta syndicate in connection with the slaying of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, Martina Kusnirova. Seven men were detained.
    (AP, 3/2/18)

2018        Mar 3, Police in Slovakia released seven Italians who were detained as suspects in the slayings of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend.
    (AP, 3/3/18)

2018        Mar 4, Slovak President Andrej Kiska called for substantial changes in the country's coalition government or for an early election to resolve the "serious political crisis" the country is facing after the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fiancée.
    (AP, 3/4/18)

2018        Mar 9, Thousands of Slovaks joined the second mass protest in a week over the murder of a journalist that has rocked the country and threatened to wreck PM Robert Fico's coalition government. Tens of thousands rallied in Bratislava and across the country demanding thorough investigations and changes in government.
    (Reuters, 3/9/18)(SFC, 3/10/18, p.A2)

2018        Mar 12, Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak said he would resign, bowing to the demands of a junior coalition partner, as Prime Minister Robert Fico fights to save his government after mass protests following a journalist's murder.
    (Reuters, 3/12/18)

2018        Mar 15, Slovak PM Robert Fico and his government resigned as a way out of the political crisis triggered by the slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancée. Pres. Andrej Kiska asked deputy prime minister Peter Pellegrini to form a new government.
    (AP, 3/15/18)

2018        Mar 16, Tens of thousands of Slovaks demanded early elections in protests across the country after PM Robert Fico's resignation failed to quell public anger following the murder of an investigative journalist.
    (Reuters, 3/16/18)

2018        Mar 22, Slovak President Andrej Kiska appointed a new cabinet and said it must work to win back the public's trust, which was shattered by the murder of an investigative journalist that led to mass protests and the resignation of veteran leader Robert Fico.
    (Reuters, 3/22/18)

2018        Mar 26, A Slovak prosecutor said the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee last month, which sparked mass protests and forced PM Robert Fico to resign, was likely to have been a contract killing.
    (Reuters, 3/26/18)

2018        Mar 28, Slovakia's foreign minister said the government has decided to recall its ambassador to Moscow for consultations over the nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain.
    (AP, 3/28/18)

2018        Apr 5, In Slovakia nearly 50,000 people marched through the capital Bratislava and other cities in a fresh sign of anger over a cozy political system many say turns a blind eye to graft.
    (Reuters, 4/8/18)

2018        Apr 16, Slovak new Interior Minister Tomas Drucker resigned after resisting public demand to sack the chief of police following an investigative journalist's murder.
    (AFP, 4/16/18)

2018        Apr 17, Slovakia's PM Peter Pellegrini said Tibor Gaspar, the national police chief, will resign on May 31 following street protests against him as the nation struggles with a political crisis triggered by the slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee.
    (AP, 4/17/18)

2018        Apr 25, Slovakia's government said it has approved a plan to deploy 152 troops in the Baltics as part of NATO forces amid growing tensions between Russia and the West. The soldiers will join NATO forces in Latvia, starting in the second half of 2018.
    (AP, 4/25/18)

2018        Apr 26, Slovak President Andrej Kiska named Denisa Sakova, a leading ruling party figure, as the new interior minister despite his reservations amid public calls for an independent to guarantee a fair inquiry into the murder of an investigative journalist.
    (Reuters, 4/26/18)

2018        Jun 22, In Slovakia businessman Marian Kocner was charged with forgery and unauthorized money and securities manufacturing, together with former Economy Minister Pavol Rusko. Kocner has been linked to slain investigative journalist Jan Kuciak.
    (AP, 6/22/18)

2018        Jul 11, Slovakia's defense ministry said it has agreed to a $1.9 billion deal to buy 14 US-made F-16 fighter jets to replace its ageing Russian-made MiG-29s.
    (Reuters, 7/11/18)

2018        Jul 17, Slovak authorities extradited an asylum seeker from the Russian Caucasus region of Ingushetia to Russia, despite protests by rights watchdogs and a UN Human Rights Committee ruling. Aslan Yandiev had been held in custody in Slovakia since 2011 on a Russian warrant for involvement in a series of bomb attacks in 2006 in Vladikavkaz. Yandiev has said he had been tortured into confessing to terrorism-related crimes.
    (Reuters, 7/18/18)

2018        Aug 21, Czechs and Slovaks marked 50 years since Soviet tanks crushed the "Prague Spring" democratic reform drive, while protesters used the anniversary to rail against the current Czech government's ties to the Communist Party.
    (AFP, 8/21/18)

2018        Sep 28, Slovakia's police say they have charged three suspects with murder in the slayings of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova on Feb. 21.
    (AP, 9/28/18)

2018        Oct 1, In Slovakia a prosecutor said that a total sum of 70,000 euros ($81,000) was paid for the Feb. 21 contract slayings of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee.
    (AP, 10/1/18)

2018        Oct 17, Slovakia's defense ministry said the country will keep its military presence in Iraq after the government approved a plan to deploy up to 42 soldiers there next year to help train Iraqi security forces as part of a NATO mission.
    (AP, 10/17/18)

2018        Nov 25, Slovakia's PM Peter Pellegrini said his country will not support the UN pact on the treatment of migrants worldwide.
    (Reuters, 11/25/18)

2018        Nov 30, In eastern Slovakia five people, including four children, were killed in a house fire in the town of Richnava.
    (AP, 11/30/18)

2018        Dec 4, Slovakia's general prosecutor ordered the release of 12 Greenpeace activists who were detained last week after climbing a tower during a protest at a coal mine that supplies one of the country's most polluting power plants. The order overturned the decision of a Slovak court on Dec. 2 to keep the activists in custody until trial.
    (Reuters, 12/4/18)

2018        Dec 5, Slovakia's PM Peter Pellegrini said his country has expelled a Russian diplomat after discovering he was a spy working under diplomatic cover.
    (AP, 12/5/18)

2018        Dec 12, Slovak Defense Minister Peter Gajdos signed the contract to buy 14 F-16 military jets from Lockheed Martin as it seeks to replace Soviet-era jets.
    (AP, 12/12/18)

2019        Feb 19, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu held back-to-back meetings with Slovak PM Peter Pellegrini, Czech PM Andrej Babis and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban before hosting all three for lunch at his official residence. The series of sit-downs replaced a high-profile summit in Jerusalem that was cancelled over a rift with Poland.
    (AP, 2/19/19)

2019        Mar 14, Slovak police and prosecutors said a suspect has been charged with ordering the slaying last year of an investigative reporter and his fiancee, a case that brought down the Slovak government. Slovakian media reported the suspect was Marian Kocner, a businessman long suspected of involvement in the crime. Kocner was already in detention in a separate case involving alleged forgery and securities crime.
    (AP, 3/14/19)

2019        Mar 16, Slovaks voted in round one of a ballot that could usher in Zuzana Caputova (45), a vocal government critic, as the country's first female president. Caputova, an anti-corruption campaigner with no experience in public office, won the first round, setting up a tough clash with the ruling Smer party's candidate.
    (AP, 3/16/19)(Reuters, 3/16/19)

2019        Mar 28, Slovakia's Parliament amended the country's constitution to cap the retirement age at 64. Some women can retire up to a year and a half earlier than that, depending on the number of children they've had.
    (AP, 3/28/19)

2019        Mar 29, Slovakia's lawmakers approved a resolution to reject an international treaty on women's rights. Opponents of the 2011 Istanbul Convention charged that some provisions would violate the Slovak constitution — for example because the constitution defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
    (AP, 3/29/19)

2019        Mar 30, Slovakia voted in an election dominated by calls for change, with anti-corruption activist Zuzana Caputova likely to be chosen as its first female president a year after a journalist's murder sparked mass anti-government protests.
    (AFP, 3/30/19)

2019        Apr 15, Slovakia's PM Peter Pellegrini said his country will boost defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2022, achieving the NATO goal two years faster than planned.
    (Reuters, 4/15/19)

2019        Jun 13, The Slovak capital Bratislava won the right to host a new European Union agency to oversee the labor market that is due to start operating this autumn.
    (Reuters, 6/13/19)

2019        Jun 15, Slovak government critic Zuzana Caputova (45), an environmental lawyer and anti-corruption activist, was sworn in as the EU member's first female president.
    (AFP, 6/15/19)

2019        Sep 3, In Slovakia far-right lawmaker Milan Mazurek lost his parliament seat after the country's Supreme Court upheld his conviction for racism. Mazurek had made illegal racist comments about the Roma community during a 2016 radio broadcast.
    (SFC, 9/4/19, p.A2)

2019        Sep 22, In Slovakia tens of thousands marched in the capital Bratislava calling for a total ban on abortions in the predominantly Catholic central European country.
    (Reuters, 9/22/19)

2019        Nov 6, Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova vetoed a new law extending a ban on publishing opinion polls up to 50 days before elections and vowed to challenge it at the Constitutional Court if the parliament overturns her veto.
    (Reuters, 11/6/19)
2019        Nov 6, Slovakia's government approved a bill to double a special tax on banks and extend it indefinitely instead of ending the levy next year, moves the central bank said would threaten financial stability. The banking tax was adopted in 2012 to build a buffer against potential future crises and scheduled to expire at the end of 2020.
    (Reuters, 11/6/19)

2019        Nov 13, In western Slovakia a lorry carrying gravel collided with a passenger bus, killing 12 people, the country's deadliest road accident in a decade.
    (Reuters, 11/13/19)

2019        Dec 5, Slovakia’s police said they have charged former PM Robert Fico with racism for his comments about the embattled Roma minority.
    (AP, 12/5/19)

2019        Dec 6, It was reported that Slovak police have charged former president Andrej Kiska with tax fraud, stirring up the political scene ahead of an election due in February.
    (Reuters, 12/6/19)
2019        Dec 6, In eastern Slovakia a gas explosion in an apartment building in Presov killed at least five people and injured more than 40. Firefighters rescued people trapped in the building, which officials said is still in danger of collapse. The death toll soon rose to least seven people. Police soon charged three people with putting the public in danger over the gas explosion. One person remained missing.
    (AP, 12/6/19)(Reuters, 12/7/19)(Reuters, 12/8/19)

2020        Jan 13, In Slovakia hired assassin Miroslav Marcek pleaded guilty to the murders of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova in Feb., 2018. Three other defendants, including suspected mastermind Marian Kocner,  pleaded not guilty.
    (SFC, 1/14/20, p.A2)

2020        Jan 20, Slovakia said it has detected its second case of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus at a farm in the west of the country.
    (Reuters, 1/20/20)

2020        Feb 5, At least two people died in Slovakia and the Czech Republic as strong winds, heavy rain and snow battered central and eastern Europe.
    (AP, 2/5/20)

2020        Feb 28, A Polish woman (32) suspected of being the head of a Polish drug trafficking group based in Krakow was arrested in Slovakia after a joint operation by Polish, Hungarian and Slovakian security forces. Police said the woman had reorganized the gang in 2017 by recruiting members of the KS Cracovia soccer team's extremist fans to engage in international drug trafficking.
    (Reuters, 3/1/20)

2020        Feb 29, In Slovakia the center-right Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLANO), led by Igor Matovic, captured 25% of a parliamentary vote.
    (SFC, 5/1/20, p.A2)(Econ., 3/7/20, p.49)

2020        Mar 6, Slovakia announced its first coronavirus infection.
    (AP, 3/6/20)

2020        Mar 11, Slovak police said 13 local judges and five other people linked to the main suspect in the case of a slain investigative journalist have been detained and charged with corruption and obstruction of justice.
    (AP, 3/11/20)

2020        Mar 15, Slovakia reported 54 coronavirus cases, an increase of 10.
    (Bloomberg, 3/15/20)

2020        Mar 21, In Slovakia a 4-party coaltion government was sworn in under PM Igor Matovic.
    (SFC, 5/1/20, p.A2)

2020        Mar 27, Slovakia said it is closing border crossings with Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria for the transit of trucks over 7.5 tons delivering non-essential goods to prevent accidents near the border crossings where long jams are formed because of lengthy handling by Hungarian authorities.
    (Reuters, 3/27/20)

2020        Apr 1, It was reported that the 1.2 million Chinese antibody tests that the Slovak government bought from local middlemen for 15 million euros ($16 million) are inaccurate and unable to detect Covid-19 in its early stages. China said Slovakia used them incorrectly, and cautioned against politicizing instances where equipment isn’t up to scratch.
    (AP, 4/1/20)

2020        May 1, Slovak PM Igor Matovic said authorities have lifted a quarantine on three Roma settlements locked down in early April to block the spread of the coronavirus, leaving one remaining village under restrictive orders. Slovakia had 1,403 confirmed coronavirus cases with 23 deaths.
    (Reuters, 5/1/20)

2020        May 8, Slovakia recorded no new cases of coronavirus for the first time since March 10. Cases totaled 1,455 while 26 people have died and 919 have already recovered.
    (Reuters, 5/9/20)

2020        May 15, Slovakia lifted a quarantine on the last of five Roma settlements that were closed off in April to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
    (Reuters, 5/16/20)

2020        May 30, Slovakia has recorded 1,513 cases of the coronavirus and 28 deaths.
    (Econ., 5/30/20, p.44)

2020        Jul 31, Slovakia reported its first coronavirus death since the middle of May, bringing its toll to 29, one of the lowest in Europe. A day earlier the country detected 27 new cases. 2,292 cases have been found since March.
    (Reuters, 7/31/20)

2020        Sep 3, A panel of judges in Slovakia acquitted businessman Marian Kocner and one co-defendant, accused of masterminding the 2018 slayings of an investigative journalist who had written about him and the journalist's fiancee. A third defendant was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Within hours, prosecutors appealed the verdicts in the country's Supreme Court.
    (AP, 9/3/20)

2020        Sep 26, The Slovak government said the country's daily count of new coronavirus cases rose to 552, a fresh record high.
    (Reuters, 9/26/20)

2020        Oct 12, In Slovakia Marian Kotleba, the leader of the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia, was convicted of illegal use of neo-Nazi symbols and sentenced to four years and four months in prison. The verdict was not final.
    (SFC, 10/13/20, p.A2)

2020        Oct 14, It was reported that Roma communities in Bulgaria were sprayed with disinfectant from crop dusters this spring as coronavirus cases surged in the country. In Slovakia, their villages were the only ones where the army conducted testing. And across Central and Eastern Europe, reports of police using excessive force against Roma spiked as officers were deployed to enforce lockdowns in their towns.
    (AP, 10/14/20)

2020        Oct 16, Slovakia reported 2,075 new daily cases of the novel coronavirus, meaning the country now has one of the fastest infection rates in Europe. This brought the total in the country of 5.5 million to 26,300 since March. 71 people have died.
    (Reuters, 10/16/20)

2020        Oct 22, Slovakia recorded 2,581 new coronavirus cases . It also reported a record number of COVID-19 related deaths for a second successive day, with 19.
    (Reuters, 10/23/20)

2020        Oct 31, Slovakia launched a huge logistical operation to test most of its population over the weekend to reverse a rise in the pandemic.
    (Reuters, 11/1/20)

2020        Nov 7, Slovakia held a second round of nationwide coronavirus testing in an effort to curb increasing infections, with more than half a million people screened by noon. Slovakia reported 2,579 COVID-19 cases through PCR testing, bringing the total to 73,667, with 351 deaths.
    (Reuters, 11/7/20)

2020        Nov 11, Slovakia's government said it will extend its state of emergency powers for the rest of the year to battle a surge in new coronavirus cases.
    (Reuters, 11/11/20)

2020        Dec 31, The Slovak government ordered ski resorts and hotels closed and banned travel between districts at an emergency session on New Year's Eve after new coronavirus cases hit record high and hospitals filled up with patients.
    (AP, 12/31/20)

2021        Jan 12, An appeals court in Slovakia upheld a lower court ruling from last February that sentenced businessman Marian Kocner, allegedly linked to the slaying of an investigative journalist in Slovakia, to 19 years in prison in a separate case of forgery. The same charge and sentence against former Economy Minister Pavol Rusko was also upheld.
    (AP, 1/12/20)

2021        Jan 18, Slovakia said it is seeking to test almost all citizens for the coronavirus by Jan. 27.
    (SFC, 1/19/21, p.A4)

2021        Feb 9, The presidents of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia gathered in northern Poland for two days of debates to mark the 30th anniversary of the Visegrad Group.
    (AP, 2/9/21)

2021        Feb 16, It was reported that Slovakia has become the nation with most COVID-19 deaths by size of population in the world amid a surge of cases from a highly contagious coronavirus variant.
    (AP, 2/16/21)

2021        Feb 17, Slovakia said it will ask other EU member countries for medical staff to help with the surge in COVID-19 cases. Coronavirus infections were on the rise in Slovakia with nearly 2,000 new cases reported on average each day.
    (AP, 2/17/21)

2021        Mar 4, Slovak PM Igor Matovic said Slovakia will get 15,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from France as a donation. Slovakia has reported the world's highest number of COVID-related deaths per capita over the past week. The country of 5.5 million has reported 7,560 coronavirus deaths.
    (AP, 3/4/21)(Reuters, 3/4/21)

2021        Mar 25, A party in Slovakia’s ruling coalition completed its withdrawal from the government amid a political crisis triggered by a secret deal to buy Russia’s coronavirus vaccine. Former deputy prime minister Richard Sulik said his Freedom and Solidarity party is withdrawing from the coalition until PM Igor Matovic resigns.
    (AP, 3/25/21)

2021        Mar 30, Slovakia's PM Igor Matovic and his government resigned to ease a political crisis triggered by a secret deal to buy Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. President Zuzana Caputova accepted the resignation and asked Eduard Heger from Matovic’s Ordinary People party to form a new government. Heger’s Cabinet is expected to be the same as Matovic’s.
    (AP, 3/30/21)

2021        Apr 1, Slovakia's Pres. Zuzana Caputova appointed a new Cabinet under PM Eduard Heger following the resignation of PM Igor Matovic's government.
    (SFC, 5/5/21, p.A6)

2021        Apr 8, Russia called on Slovakia to return hundreds of thousands of doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, citing contract violations, in an escalating row between the two countries after a Slovak watchdog raised doubts about the shot. Slovakia imported 200,000 doses of Sputnik V last month, despite a lack of EU regulatory approval.
    (Reuters, 4/8/21)

2021        Apr 28, Slovakia's health ministry said doses of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine sent to Slovakia in March will have to be kept in storage for at least another month, after Moscow asked for some doses to be sent back for testing.
    (Reuters, 4/28/21)

2021        May 9, A Slovakia health ministry spokeswoman said a Hungarian lab has confirmed that the first batch of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines sent to Slovakia were satisfactory and the government would discuss the next steps with Russia.
    (Reuters, 5/9/21)

2021        May 12, Slovakia's health minister says he plans to keep AstraZeneca in the country's vaccine arsenal, speaking a day after the country suspended use of the shots after a recipient died.
    (AP, 5/12/21)

2021        May 14, In Poland the foreign ministers of Europe's four Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland) discussed cooperation to boost national economies and tourism after the pandemic and announced free travel between the Czech Republic and Hungary for those vaccinated against COVID-19.
    (AP, 5/14/21)

2021        May 26, Slovakia became the 2nd EU country to authorized use of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, which has not yet been approved by the EU's drug regulator.
    (SFC, 5/27/21, p.A5)

2021        May 31, Two suspects were arrested in Germany and Slovakia in raids on a group accused of smuggling Vietnamese into Germany and other European countries for large fees that they had to work off in massage parlors, brothels and other places. Police found 13 people who were in Germany illegally during the raids in several parts of Germany.
    (AP, 5/31/21)

2021        Jun 7, Slovakia became the European Union's second country to start inoculating people with the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, after months of rows over the shot that has yet to be approved by European regulators.
    (Reuters, 6/7/21)

2021        Jun 15, An appeals court in Slovakia dismissed a lower court's acquittal of a businessman accused of masterminding the 2018 slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancée. The case will return to the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, which ruled in September to clear businessman Marian Kocner and one co-defendant of murder.
    (AP, 6/15/21)

2021        Jul 2, Slovakia's parliament approved a plan to launch a lottery with weekly prizes of up to 2 million euros for vaccinated people and offer bonuses to those who convince others to get COVID-19 shots to boost interest.
    (Reuters, 7/2/21)

2021        Jul 9, Visegrad members (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) gathered in Slovenia and voiced concern over a potential migration rush from Afghanistan as US and NATO forces pull out from that country. They also complained that a small group of powerful countries within the EU continue to call the shots without input from smaller or less wealthy member states.
    (AP, 7/9/21)

2021        Sep 13, In Slovakia Pope Francis warned against too much focus on individual rights and culture wars at the expense of the common good during a visit amid increased nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment across eastern Europe.
    (Reuters, 9/13/21)

2021        Sep 14, In Slovakia Pope Francis condemned prejudice and discrimination against Europe's Roma people during a visit to one of the most impoverished communities in the country, saying it was wrong to pigeonhole entire ethnic groups.
    (Reuters, 9/14/21)

2021        Sep 22, Slovakia reported 1,180 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily tally since April as the country of 5.5 million experiences a surge in infections.
    (Reuters, 9/22/21)

2021        Oct 6, Slovakia reported 1,971 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily tally since March 23.
    (Reuters, 10/6/21)

2021        Oct 18, Slovakia reimposed coronavirus restrictions in the hardest-hit parts of the country amid the latest surge of infections. Slovakia has registered around 438,000 cases and 12,856 deaths.
    (AP, 10/18/21)

2021        Nov 8, Slovakia expanded strict coronavirus restrictions including hotel, bar and restaurant closures to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections.
    (AP, 11/8/21)

2021        Nov 9, Slovakia reported a record high 7,055 new coronavirus infections and again had to start limiting non-urgent hospital care to cater for admissions of COVID-19 patients.
    (Reuters, 11/10/21)

2021        Nov 24, Coronavirus infections broke records in parts of Europe. Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Hungary all reported new highs in daily infections.
    (Reuters, 11/24/21)

2021        Nov 25, Slovakia went into a two-week lockdown, as the country with one of the EU's lowest vaccination rates reported a critical situation in hospitals and new infections that topped global tables.
    (Reuters, 11/25/21)

2021        Dec 3, Slovakia reported 15,278 new COVID-19 cases, the highest number in a single day since the pandemic broke out, but the Health Ministry said a technical issue inflated the number.
    (Reuters, 12/3/21)

2021        Dec 9, Slovakia's parliament approved a plan to give people 60 and older up to $339 if they are vaccinated against COVID-19.
    (SFC, 12/10/21, p.A5)

2022        Jan 10, Slovakia began easing coronavirus restrictions after a decline in new infections while the fast-spreading omicron variant is yet to fully hit the country.
    (AP, 1/10/22)

2022        Jan 12, Slovakia's government approved a defence agreement with the United States, setting the framework for potential use of its air bases by its NATO partner but not leading to any concrete deployments.
    (Reuters, 1/12/22)

2022        Feb 21, Slovak PM told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call that Slovakia is working on helping Ukraine's energy security.
    (Reuters, 2/21/22)
2022        Feb 21, Slovakia marked the anniversary of the 2018 slayings of an investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova by unveiling a monument to honor them at a central square in the capital of Bratislava.
    (AP, 2/21/22)

2022        Mar 14, Slovakia's Foreign Ministry said it has decided to expel three Russian diplomats following its assessment of information from the country’s intelligence services.
    (AP, 3/14/22)

2022        Mar 20, Slovakia's defense minister said the US Patriot air defence system has started arriving from NATO partner countries and the deployment will continue in the coming days. The minister said last week that Slovakia is willing to give the S-300 to Ukraine if and when it gets a proper replacement.
    (Reuters, 3/20/22)

2022        Mar 24, US President Joe Biden said NATO leaders agreed to bolster defenses, particularly in Eastern Europe, and will deploy four new combat units in Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary. Biden also said Russia should be removed from the G20.
    (Reuters, 3/24/22)(NY Times, 3/25/22)

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