ABSTRACT
Czechs and Slovaks shared a common history for more than 70 years. They underwent together the whole period of communism, which began in Czechoslovakia in February 1948; they lived together in hope, followed by the disillusion of the 1968 spring, and they peacefully gained common liberty in the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Due to political disagreement, both countries separated in 1993 establishing two new states – the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Nevertheless, both states maintain very good relationships and have a very similar legal system. On 1 May 2004, both states joined the EU together with eight other states.
