Czechoslovakia: Five years on

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the breakup of Czechoslovakia. At midnight on December 31 1992, the Czechoslovak federation was formally dissolved and two independent states - the Czech Republic and Slovakia - came into being. Since then, the two have moved in difference directions - as Jan Repa, the BBC's Central European analyst, explains:

From the time of Czechoslovakia's foundation, in 1918, Czech-Slovak relations have been ambiguous. Neighbouring peoples, speaking mutually intelligible languages, Czechs and Slovaks were, nonetheless, divided by history and culture. Czechs were an old European nation, heirs of the medieval Bohemian Kingdom. Slovaks, till recent times, were an ethnic community - Slav speaking natives of northern Hungary.

The Slovaks were promised a federated Czecho-Slovak state. What they got was a centralised Czechoslovakia, run from Prague. Czechs recall the "1st Republic" of the 1920s and 30s with pride, as a haven of democracy and prosperity in a turbulent Europe. Slovaks talk of "second class" status, economic hardship and disrespect for their own rural, Catholic traditions. The Communists continued the centralising tradition after the Second World War. As soon as Communism fell in 1989, Slovak pressure for a looser "confederal" union revived. Czech leaders professed not to understand what the Slovaks wanted.

A major source of tension was Slovakia's record during World War II. Most Czechs regard the establishment in 1939 of a nominally independent Nazi-backed "Slovak State" as an act of betrayal. Many Slovaks, while acknowledging its shortcomings, nonetheless see the wartime Slovak State as a partial realisation of their legitimate national aspirations.

Czechoslovak elections in the summer of 1992 saw strongly pro-union politicians defeated both in the Czech lands and in Slovakia. Within a few months, the terms of the divorce had been drawn up - and Czechoslovakia was no more.

Though Czechs and Slovaks remain major trading partners, schemes for continuing customs unions, open borders and the like have fallen by the wayside. Psychologically, they appear to have grown even further apart. Czechs, eyes turned westward, appear to have forgotten their self-proclaimed "civilising mission" in the East. Slovakia, cut loose, has drifted between a professed desire to join NATO and the EU, isolationist nationalism, and a residual wish for closer links with Russia.

The Czechs are accepted as early candidates for NATO and EU membership. Slovakia is upbraided for its government's allegedly authoritarian practices and the less than sensitive handling of its large Hungarian minority.

And yet, some similarities remain. The Czech economy, under Vaclav Klaus's stewardship, has proved not to be as healthy as was commonly believed. Slovakia's economy has proved more robust than expected. Both countries face elections this year. Mr Klaus's centre-right coalition government broke up in acrimomy last month. Slovakia's populist leader, Vladimir Meciar, continues to enjoy considerable public support - but there are doubts about his health and his appetite for power. One thing is clear - no-one is talking about resurrecting Czechoslovakia.