Czechoslovakia’s Leaders Agree to Split Peacefully
The leaders of Czechoslovakia’s two deeply divided parts said Thursday they have agreed on how to split the country peacefully.
Czech Premier Vaclav Klaus and his Slovak counterpart, Vladimir Meciar, said they will ask Parliament to pass a law to wind up the Czechoslovak federation.
“We’d like the Federal Assembly to pass the law by September 30,” Klaus, sitting alongside Meciar, told a news conference in the Slovak capital, Bratislava.
“The entire concept aims at effecting fundamental changes while avoiding a big bang,” Josef Zieleniec, deputy chairman of Klaus’ Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and foreign minister in his Czech Cabinet, told reporters in Prague later.
The proposed plan included a customs union, a free trade zone with free movement of labor, money and capital.
But a sticking point remains whether to keep a single currency.
The ODS and Meciar’s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, the two largest parties in the Federal Assembly and dominant in their respective regional parliaments, also agreed on further negotiations to decide how to divide Czechoslovakia’s military.
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