EXPLAINED: Czech-Slovak relations 33 years after 'never ever getting back together'

On the Velvet Divorce anniversary, a new populist axis and shared culture wars make the clean break look more like a complicated situationship.

ČTK Elizabeth Zahradnicek-Haas

Written by ČTK,  Elizabeth Zahradnicek-Haas Published on 01.01.2026 12:48:00 (updated on 01.01.2026) Reading time: 3 minutes

Daily News
Shutterstock: helloRuby
Shutterstock: helloRuby

On Jan. 1, 1993, the world awoke to two new countries where just one had existed the day before. In August of the previous year, prime ministers Václav Klaus and Vladimír Mečiar signed an agreement in the garden of the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, marking the end of 74 years of shared history.

Dubbed the Velvet Divorce for its peaceful transition, the split is now 33 years old. Yet peaceful did not mean popular; polls at the time showed that only about one-third of citizens in either republic supported the dissolution without a referendum.

#Czech dispatch #czech-slovak relations #explainer #on this day #Velvet Divorce
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