A Divorce in The Heart of Europe

Less than three years after Czechoslovakia's "velvet revolution," the country announced the preliminary terms of a "velvet divorce." Slovak Vladimir Meciar and Czech Vaclav Klaus, whose parties gained pluralities in their respective republics in elections earlier this month, agreed last week to form an interim federal government. It will function chiefly as a liquidation committee for the 74-year-old state, and by Sept. 30 the details creating separate Czech and Slovak republics should be ironed out.

The agreement came in a fourth marathon negotiating session between the two in the Slovak capital Bratislava. For Klaus the split means being Prime Minister of a Czech republic committed to the deep economic reforms he has advocated as federal Finance Minister since 1989, rather than Prime Minister of a rancorous Czechoslovakia.

Though he said he agreed to the split "with a heavy heart," it was Klaus who pushed for resolution of the talks in the interest of limiting economic damage caused by continued uncertainty. Meciar insisted that Slovakia, the eastern third of Czechoslovakia, could be an "international subject" on its own while remaining part of a loose confederation with the Czech republic. To Klaus that sounded like neither fish nor fowl. With the strong federation he sought out of reach, he pushed for a clean split -- even as Meciar suggested that the pact "still does not mean the end of the common state."

The Slovak leader's waffling reflects his electorate's ambiguous feelings. While many Slovaks resent the power of Prague and in particular Klaus' hard- nosed market policies, most did not want an outright split. The prospect of a separate Slovakian budget for 1993 could give form to those doubts: only 13% of last year's foreign investment to Czechoslovakia went to Slovakia, where unemployment has burgeoned to almost 12%.