Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
On 1 January 2009 Slovakia adopted the Euro as its currency with the exchange rate of 30.126 SK/€, and the €2 commemorative coin for 2009, Slovakia's first, featured the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in remembrance of the common struggle of the Czechoslovak people for democracy. By a quirk of fate, the welcoming speech on the behalf of the European Union on the occasion of Slovakia's entry to the Eurozone was delivered by Mirek Topolánek, the prime minister of the then-EU presiding country, the Czech Republic, naturally in his native language while other guest speakers used English. The Czech Republic continues to use the Czech koruna, or crown.
Stredné Slovensko
Central Slovakia is one of the four NUTS-2 Regions of Slovakia. It was created at the same time as were the Žilina and the Banská Bystrica  regions. Central Slovakia is the largest of the four regions of Slovakia and its GDP per capita is 58,8% of the European Union average (€13,600 per year).