Vaclav Havel: A split that brought us all closer

From the New Year's address by the President of the Czech Republic, broadcast on Czech radio and TV

New Year's Day marks the 10th anniversary of the birth of the Czech Republic as an independent state. That era's seemingly endless negotiations finally led to the division of Czechoslovakia. It had one great advantage: it proceeded calmly, without violence, major conflicts or significant unsolved issues. This unusually positive split brought us worldwide respect. But it also had one disadvantage: a matter of such importance was not decided by the citizens in a referendum, as would be appropriate in a democratic society.

Rather, it was mostly treated as a technical matter, almost as if it were an accounting operation. Perhaps for this reason, the end of Czechoslovakia was accompanied by an unpleasant aftertaste and awkward feelings. No significant part of the citizenry protested the division, but no significant part celebrated it, either. It was as if the public had more or less breathed a sigh of relief at the endless, traumatising bargaining finally being behind us.

All that is now long gone – is history – and after all this time, I can not help but feel that no matter how queerly it happened then, it is a good thing that it happened. Evidently, most peoples must taste full statehood for at least a while in order to learn to co-operate with others. Czechs and Slovaks may be closer today than ever. There is no animosity, and they are united in their goals: to participate fully in the European and global integration processes and, in their own interest, to gradually forsake some of their countries' sovereignty in favour of increasing influence in the life of communities vastly larger and more powerful. We live in an interconnected world, and we – Czechs and Slovaks – walk hand in hand in it. And that is what is most important.