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CC 299 2018
Coincard
BU
Coincard
Slovakia · 25th anniversary of the Slovak Republic
Mintage4,000
Issue price€7.70
Issue date3 Jan 2018
PackagingCoincard
Edge letteringSLOVENSKÁ REPUBLIKA + ★ + Linden leaf + ★
Market price€12.00
Issue occasion
The coin commemorates the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Slovak Republic (Slowakische Republik) on 1 January 1993. The design features a stylised portal above a map of Slovakia and a euro symbol surrounded by EU stars, symbolising accession to the European Union and the euro area. The Slovak coat of arms is depicted on the left; the design is complemented by the inscription “SLOVENSKÁ REPUBLIKA” and the years 1993 and 2018.
The design
The design symbolizes Slovakia’s accession to the European Union and the euro area. It depicts a stylized gateway spanning both a map of Slovakia and a euro symbol surrounded by the stars of the European Union; some of the stars are obscured by the map. The coat of arms of Slovakia is shown on the left side of the design. In the lower-left part, the name of the issuing country, “SLOVENSKÁ REPUBLIKA”, appears in a semicircle. The date of the establishment of the Slovak Republic, 1.1.1993, and the coin’s year of issue, 2018, are arranged one below the other beneath the right-hand part of the map. Between the map and the dates, the “MK” mintmark of the Kremnica mint (Mincovňa Kremnica) and the stylized initials “PK” of the coin’s designer Pavel Károly can be seen between two mintmarks. The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the coin’s outer ring.
Background on the topic
The emergence of present-day Slovakia is linked to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. This state was founded in 1918 after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. Since 1969, it had formally existed as a federation consisting of a Czech and a Slovak constituent republic. Following the end of communist rule as a result of the Velvet Revolution (Samtene Revolution) of 1989, differing views on the political and economic order of the common state emerged.
After the elections of 1992, the heads of government of the two constituent republics, Václav Klaus and Vladimír Mečiar, negotiated their future relationship. A new federal order was not established. Instead, the political leaderships agreed on partition. The Czechoslovak Federal Assembly created the legal prerequisites for this; no referendum on the dissolution was held. Two independent successor states emerged from the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic: the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The separation, frequently referred to as the “Velvet Divorce”, took place without military confrontation.
Slovakia already had its own republican institutions before achieving state independence. A Slovak constitution was adopted in 1992. In the following years, the new state had to further develop its foreign-policy position, economic order and state authorities. At the same time, it increasingly oriented itself towards European and transatlantic structures.
In 2004, Slovakia joined both NATO and the European Union. In 2009, it introduced the euro as cash and legal tender. Thus, only 16 years lay between achieving state independence and joining the common currency area. The connection established on the coin between the state, the European Union and the euro therefore refers to the country’s foreign-policy development since the 1990s. The quarter-century provided an occasion to present this sequence of independent statehood and European integration together.
After the elections of 1992, the heads of government of the two constituent republics, Václav Klaus and Vladimír Mečiar, negotiated their future relationship. A new federal order was not established. Instead, the political leaderships agreed on partition. The Czechoslovak Federal Assembly created the legal prerequisites for this; no referendum on the dissolution was held. Two independent successor states emerged from the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic: the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The separation, frequently referred to as the “Velvet Divorce”, took place without military confrontation.
Slovakia already had its own republican institutions before achieving state independence. A Slovak constitution was adopted in 1992. In the following years, the new state had to further develop its foreign-policy position, economic order and state authorities. At the same time, it increasingly oriented itself towards European and transatlantic structures.
In 2004, Slovakia joined both NATO and the European Union. In 2009, it introduced the euro as cash and legal tender. Thus, only 16 years lay between achieving state independence and joining the common currency area. The connection established on the coin between the state, the European Union and the euro therefore refers to the country’s foreign-policy development since the 1990s. The quarter-century provided an occasion to present this sequence of independent statehood and European integration together.