Slovakia Summary

The Slovak Republic (49,035 sq. km; approximately 5.4 million inhabitants) is a parliamentary democracy and gained independence on January 1, 1993. The President, the Chief of State, is elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term.

The unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic is composed of 150 members who are elected on the basis of proportional representation. Members of Parliament have a mandate for four years. The judicial branch consists of a Supreme Court, the judges of which are appointed by the National Council, and the Constitutional Court, the judges of which are appointed by the President from a group of nominees approved by the National Council.

Current environmental issues include air pollution from metallurgical plants, presenting human health risks and acid rain damaging forests.

Slovakia entered the European Union on 1 May 2004. Under the terms of the accession negotiations, candidate countries are obliged to transpose the environmental acquis (Community law) into national law by the date of accession. However, in the case of very recent EU legislation which entails significant investments and/or infrastructure upgrades, member states may negotiate transition periods beyond the accession date. Slovakia obtained transitional arrangements with regard to emissions of volatile organic compounds from storage of petrol (until 2007), recovery and recycling of packaging waste (until 2007), treatment of urban waste water (until 2015), discharges of dangerous substances into surface water (until 2006), integrated pollution prevention control (until 2011), air pollution from large combustion plants (until 2007) and incineration of hazardous waste (until 2006).