Slovakia
The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic went their separate ways after 1 January 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce. Slovakia has remained a close partner with the Czech Republic. Both countries co-operate with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrád Group. Slovakia became a member of NATO on 29 March 2004 and of the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2009, Slovakia adopted the Euro as its national currency.
Economy of Europe
Slovenia became the first formerly communist nation to adopt the EU currency, the euro, in 2007, followed by Malta and Cyprus in 2008, and Slovakia in 2009. In 2011, Estonia became the first republic from the former Soviet Union to adopt the euro, followed by Latvia in 2014, and Lithuania in 2015. Recently, Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union, which had entered on the 1st day of July 2013.