While its neighbors in Central Europe have been taking important economic strides forward in recent years, Slovakia's progress has been slow. The Slovak Republic has been mired in the past, when pervasive corruption and political repression were considered standard operating procedure.
One of Slovakia's most outspoken opponents of this reactionary trend has been Ivan Miklos, Executive Director and Founder of MESA 10, a highly successful think tank based in Bratislava. After years of leading the nation's opposition forces, Miklos was named Slovakia's new Deputy Prime Minister for Economics in November after the opposition's recent election win. A CIPE partner since 1996, MESA 10, under the leadership of Miklos, has made remarkable progress in a few short years in raising Slovak public awareness of that nation's economic and political plight. The think tank is credited with helping to educate the public on the need for reforms, and it is the public who took the initiative and voted out the statist government of Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar.
By helping to train dozens of journalists in the ways of international economics and finance, Miklos exposed the excesses of the Meciar regime and hammered away at Slovak public opinion. MESA 10's primary vehicle for shaping the views of policymakers has been the Slovak Economic Forum, which brings together a variety of leaders to discuss that country's most pressing issues.
Over the years, Miklos has been an uncompromising critic of Slovakia's crony capitalism and privatization, heavy-handed treatment of media and free speech, discrimination against ethnic minorities, and efforts to squelch the nation's incipient democracy. A member of Slovakia's first post-Communist government, Miklos left the government in 1992 to help lead the opposition forces.
Unlike its neighbors Poland and Hungary, the economic development "tigers" of Central Europe, Slovakia receives only a trickle of foreign investment. Also unlike its more prosperous neighbors, the Slovak Republic has been rejected from taking part in additional EU and NATO accession talks until the nation achieves greater democratic and economic reform. The recent election of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, a founding member of MESA 10, has given new hope to forward-looking citizens, like Miklos, who want Slovakia to set an example of achievement for other states in the region.
At a briefing at CIPE's offices in Washington on October 13, Miklos thanked CIPE for its support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during the bleak days of the Meciar regime. He characterized such funding as "the most effective money spent" by outside donors.
Miklos reiterated the importance of NGOs like MESA 10 maintaining their independence and keeping their distance from the Government of Slovakia. "If the government will incorporate [MESA 10's] values or respect these values," he said, "we will support their policy." Otherwise, he noted, "Slovakia's future will be very difficult."
Miklos' speech is available at CIPE's Web site at www.cipe.org.