Yearbook of Slovakia’s Foreign Policy 2003

The overall goal of the Yearbook of Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic is to evaluate the most significant events of the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic in 2003. The Yearbook is published bilingually in both Slovak and English and also provides a contemporary source of information. It registers both developments in the field of foreign policy in periods of crucial importance for Slovakia and, in addition, the debate concerning the further development of foreign policy. The Yearbook of Foreign Policy is published after the regular Evaluation Conference on Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic held at the beginning of every calendar period and after the approval of the Report on Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic in the National Council of the Slovak Republic. This year celebrates the fifth annual publishing of the Yearbook.

For the years 1999 to 2003, the Yearbook was published by the Slovak Institute for International Studies (SIIS). From 2004, the Yearbook will be published by the Research Centre of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA), the successor to SIIS. The RC SFPA would like to thank the former Yearbook editor Alena Kotvanová as well as former SIIS directors, Urban Rusnák and Attila Szép for creating and maintaining the tradition of a yearly foreign policy evaluation.

This publication presenting the state and development of Slovak foreign policy from the point of view of its prime players, experts and analysts has found many readers and enjoys a secure position among literature concerning the issue of foreign policy. Therefore, RC SFPA is willing to continue this successful tradition established by SIIS. Our main ambition is not only to continue publishing and thus widen the information resources in the field of foreign policy of the Slovak Republic but also to develop it further. Based on RC SFPA’s proposal, the Yearbook’s editorial board has been established. The members of the editorial board are: Peter Brezáni, Alexander Duleba, Ivan Korčok, Milan Nič, Urban Rusnák, Tomáš Strážay, Štefan Šebesta, Marek Šťastný and Peter Weiss. The Yearbook consists of contributions presented at the Evaluation Conference held on 15 March 2004 and entitled Slovakia on the Threshold of EU and NATO Accession. The well-known structure of this publication is, with these intentions, widened to include public debate concerning selected issues as well as other relevant information (information on the structure of state administration authorities acting in international affairs and European integration, list of embassies and consulates of the Slovak Republic abroad, list of embassies and consulates in the Slovak Republic as well as list of military missions the Slovak Republic is involved in).

The year 2003 was of great importance as far as the modern history of the Slovak Republic’s foreign policy is concerned. It was the year during which the Slovak Republic successfully completed its aim of integration into the Euro-Atlantic community. Moreover, this year’s issue of the Yearbook is widened to include the section From the Public Debate, consisting of a survey of published statements of representatives of parliamentary political parties’ in the printed media towards two issues of concern last year – the EU Constitution Draft and Iraqi Crisis.

Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) financially supported the Conference, as in previous years. We would like to thank most of all Stefan Gehrold, head of KAS for the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, and Agáta Pešková from the Bratislava office of KAS. It would also not be possible to organise the Conference without the diligent work of RC SFPA and SFPA employees. Publishing of the Yearbook of Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic 2003 was financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

We strongly believe that all those interested in foreign policy will find this publication useful.