In a novel departure, the BCSA came to the City on 29th November 2016.
As guests of the Czech and Slovak Section of the EBRD (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), and to mark the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU, we held a public discussion with two leading players in Slovakia’s post-communist economic transition.
The Bank’s home at One Exchange Square provides a fabulously imposing venue, and the Bank itself, established following the collapse of the Berlin wall, has played a key role in the economic transformation of so much of Central and Eastern Europe.
Vazil Hudák, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, former Slovak Minister of the Economy and the Slovak Presidency’s Chief negotiator for the EU Budget, was joined by Dr Michal Horváth of York University and BCSA Chair Michael Roberts to explore the essential ingredients of Slovakia’s success in making that transition – first to statehood, then EU and NATO membership, and most recently adoption of the Euro – in less than a quarter of a century, as well as the lessons for other countries to the East of the EU.
Jaguar Land Rover’s recent decision to locate its newest manufacturing plant in Slovakia is testimony to that success. But there have been challenges too: a brain drain of talent to other EU countries, not least to the City where Slovaks are thriving in the financial services industry as well as in London’s start-up community; regional economic disparities such as those between Bratislava in the west and Kosice in the east; as well as corruption in public procurement and the situation of the roma community.
Hudák and Horváth provided fascinating insight into the process of change. The dream lives on for so many countries in Europe’s neighbourhood, and the experience of Central Europe points the way.
The BCSA is hugely grateful to Mario Vircik at the EBRD for facilitating this event and for the Bank’s generous hospitality.
