Slovakia to vote on EU membership
The Slovakian public has today gone to the polls in order to give its opinion on joining the European Union.
Slovakia is the fifth of the 10 accession countries that officially signed up for EU membership last month to hold a referendum.
Malta, Slovenia, Hungary and Lithuania have already voted in favour of joining the EU next May, when the Accession Treaty will be ratified.
In order for the two-day referendum to be valid, at least a 50% voter turnout is required, and although reports in the European press suggest that only 10% of the population is opposed to joining the EU, there are fears that low participation could prove a problem.
However, the centre-right government, headed by prime minister Mikulas Dzurinda, is apparently planning to send out text messages to 2.5 million of the four million eligible voters, encouraging them to cast their ballot.
Slovakia split from the Czech Republic back in 1993, and has been trying to become more involved in western European affairs ever since joining NATO last November.
The country, if the referendum is successful, also hopes to join the single currency as soon as 2006.
Poland will be the next country to hold a referendum, with the vote taking place at the beginning of June.
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