NEWS

Friends of Slovakia condemns in the strongest possible terms the shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico during his public appearance in the town of Handlová on May 15.

The Friends of Slovakia, together with The Embassy of the Slovak Republic to the United States, The Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, The American Friends of the Czech Republic, The Embassy of the Czech Republic to the United States, and The Transatlantic Democracy Working Group organized the […]

Rasťo Kužel, Executive Director of Memo 98, delivered the 2023 Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture on November 17, 2023 at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, D.C. Mr. Kužel discussed importance of free and fair elections for democracy in light of the recent outcomes in Slovakia and Poland and ahead of the US races in 2024.

Miloslav Stašek, current Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States, delivered the 2022 Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture on November 15, 2022 at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, DC. Ambassador Stašek discussed the current conflict in Ukraine and its devastating impact on peace and stability in Europe and beyond.

On Sunday, October 16th, members of the FOS Board and others from the Slovak American community attended the U.S. premiere screening of the documentary film, The Killing of a  Journalist.  The documentary was a part of DOUBLE EXPOSURE, the United States’ first and only film festival dedicated to the intersection between investigative reporting and visual storytelling. It […]

Friends of Slovakia partnered with the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Slovak Embassy in Washington, D.C. to cosponsor the only Washington-area performance of the Slovak Theater Ensemble Túlavé divadlo (“Wandering Theater”) during its recent U.S. tour. The performance of Hana and Matúš – Literature Lessons took place on October 13, 2022, at the […]

Written by Dr. Elizabeth Guran, FOS Board Member The Ukraine War and its impact on democratic societies was the topic of the final Student Summit sponsored by Friends of Slovakia and its partners at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Over 60 students from Matej Bel University, […]

Friends of Slovakia hosted a webinar featuring Jan Orlovsky, Director of the Office of Migration at the Slovak Ministry of Interior, who discussed Slovakia’s response to the humanitarian crisis that resulted from the February 2022 full-scale war in Ukraine. In addition to the government response, there has been a tremendous outpouring of support from nongovernmental […]

The German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group hosted a virtual discussion with Eduard Heger, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic to discuss Slovakia’s democracy agenda and how his government intends to further its commitments to restore trust in democratic institutions and build deeper transatlantic cooperation and coordination to […]

Beata Balogová, editor-in-chief of SME, a major daily and news site in Slovakia, delivered the 2021 Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture on November 17, 2021. Her lecture, presented virtually from Bratislava due to covid-19 travel restrictions, was entitled “How Journalists Survived Backsliding and State Capture.” Her talk combined a history of threats to press freedoms during the Mečiar and Fico years in Slovakia, a personal account of her decision to become a journalist, and a warning that democratic institutions are again under attack in Central Europe.