Part IV
Slovakia

Mr. O. Makys - Country Consultant of Milieukontakt Oost-Europa

Bratislava, 1 February 1996

Historical development

The history of the Czechoslovakian environmental movement goes back to the end of the sixties, when within communist institutions environmental groups were established. In the Czech Republic it was the Czech Union of Nature Conservation (CSOP) and in Slovakia, the Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Protectors (SZOPK). These organizations coordinated their strategy and activities until the splitting up of Czechoslovakia into two countries on January 1, 1993. There were youth nature conservation organizations as well, for Slovakia this was Strom Zivota whereas the Czech Republic had Brontosaurus. The NGOs from both countries had regular contact, but even within the Czechoslovakian Federation there was no central office.

Since the beginning of the eighties the Slovakian groups have started to be more progressive and politically active. Besides nature conservation more socio-cultural activities became important. During the communist reign the publication of environmental information was forbidden, this information was considered a state secret. The more political approach of SZOPK and Strom Zivota started with the publication of sensitive environmental information in their bulletins. After the changes at the end of 1989 many of SZOPK activist left the environmental movement to lead the political changes in Slovakia. After the changes both SZOPK and Strom Zivota returned to their original status of political independence.

New laws have attacked the NGO community in both the Czech and Slovak Republics, currently, SZOPK and Strom Zivota don't get state subsidies anymore to pay their staffs. SZOPK tried to adapt to the new situation, but couldn't manage the big structural changes needed. Strom Zivota was able to fit the organization in the recent situation, by focusing on environmental education and successful external fund-raising.

The latest threat to the Slovakian NGO community is the governmental plan for a so called 'Third Sector Law'. This law will implement restrictions and difficulties for almost all Slovakian NGOs.

East-East cooperation in Slovakia

During communist times, cooperation with Western NGOs was complicated, if not impossible, though the interest for cooperation was and still is relatively big. East-East cooperation was not popular at the time, partly because of the political situation in the country and the lack of appropriate partner NGOs in the communist countries. Besides, it was official state policy to cooperate with CEE countries, and the existing NGOs were not in favor of obeying their governments.

After the changes many activists from the environmental movement moved to the new government, so that 'old' NGOs lost a lot of active volunteers. SZOPK and Strom Zivota are still two of the biggest environmental NGOs in Slovakia, but also new, more active, groups were established. East-West cooperation became very popular after the changes, the Czech NGOs established these relations especially fast. Slovakia was slower to develop these relationships and is a bit behind in this development, mainly because of the developmental problems of Slovakian NGOs.

It were Slovakian nationalistic politics that ended in the splitting up of the Czechoslovakian Federation.

Currently, East-East cooperation exists, but not very much. It pertains mostly to transboundary issues, river clean-up and nature conservation projects, are the biggest reasons for East-East cooperation. Sadly, the cooperation with the Czech Republic is on a very low level, except for cooperation of NGOs in a border crossing area, as for example in the White Carpathian Mountains.

Reasons for East-East cooperation

East-East cooperation is needed to build up a civil society equally in all CEE countries, and in more Eastern countries. The Slovakian environmental NGOs can help, for example, Ukrainian NGOs to develop their methods and their organization. The exchange of information and experiences is very important to help less developed groups in CEE. Especially in Slovakia it is important to show the government that cooperation with other countries is possible, since the actual government is not interested in cooperation with Slovakian neighbors like Hungary and the Czech Republic.

An advantage of East-East cooperation over East-West cooperation is the fact that the cultural and historical gaps between CEE countries are smaller than the big differences between Western and Eastern European societies. The further East, the more difficult it probably is, for Westerners to understand the people and the situation.

Problems / Obstacles

In Slovakia the main problem for further developments in the NGO community and the establishing of East-East cooperation is the recent political situation. The government promotes cooperation with Russia and Serbia, where as the contacts with the Czech Republic have to be broken down as much as possible. The existing political problems with the Hungarian minority in the south of Slovakia does not improve the relations with the Hungarians either, so that mostly pure Slovakian and pure Hungarian organizations cooperate among each other. An explanation for the negligible contacts with Poland could be the geographical and historical strong border with that country.

A social-psychological obstacle from the Slovakian side towards the Czech people could be the lack of self-confidence of some of the Slovaks.

Practical problems like border formalities with Ukraine and a lack of money for establishing sustainable contacts have to be mentioned as well. Many NGOs are too busy with surviving, and have no capacity left to start East-East cooperation. Finally and unfortunately, it is still more attractive for a Slovakian NGO to find a Western partner than to put a lot of energy in East-East cooperation.

Necessary features for East-East cooperation

Common interest on a shared topic is necessary. The most likely topics for East-East cooperation are border and transboundary issues. Contact is easier to establish. Also important is the face-to-face contact with potential partners. All cooperation is based on personal contacts. Both NGOs have to get trust in each other and possibly become friends, since a friendly relationship is an important commodity for finishing a common project. Without good personal contacts, sustainable cooperation will seldom be established.

A common language is needed as well, but for the Slovakian NGOs this is not a big problem since Slovaks understand most languages of the surrounding countries, including some Hungarian. Finally, if the problems mentioned can be solved it will be easier to facilitate East-East cooperation.

Promotion and future of East-East cooperation

In the future Central European NGOs will be able to pass their experiences of the last years to Eastern NGOs, for example, Ukraine and Belarussia. But financial support to promote East-East cooperation is needed, especially for long-lasting projects and well organized follow-ups. Funding organizations like REC have to take into account that one joint project doesn't mean sustainable cooperation, they have to follow-up their granted East-East cooperative projects.

In order to promote East-East cooperation personal meetings among NGO people have to be organized. These meetings will be the most efficient when they are based on a particular environmental topic, or focused on gaining cooperative skills.

As the amount of East-East cooperative projects increase, the future will look much better. Finally the Slovaks will find out that they have cultural and historical ties in common with their neighbors, especially the Czechs. Cooperation in Central Europe is natural when there are no major political obstacles, these contacts will occur, and East-East cooperation of Slovakian NGOs will grow.

REC * PUBLICATIONS * BEYOND BORDERS - SIDE REPORT * SLOVAKIA

Part IV Slovakia