Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)

4. Towns in Slovakia after 1993

Towns in Slovakia after 1993

Figure 13. Proposal for 12 counties in 2000

Source: edited by István Mezei based on Návrh samosprávnych krajov. ErasData-Pro, spol. S.r.o., Odbor informatiky SVS MV SR. 2001, drawn by Máté Mády

The new regional division of 1996 is all the more important because, after long debates, (the more significant plans are outlined in: Kocsis 1995), the eight administrative regions set up that year have remained, at present without the county municipality organs that were to be built simultaneously. Meanwhile, the number of districts has been started to be reduced. The number of the 79 districts (okres) marked out in 1996 were again reduced in 2004. At present there are 50 small regions (obvod) to carry out the different administrative tasks.

Mention must be made of the town-forming opportunities of administration, because the municipality and administrative units set up in the years of the transition have had a considerable influence on the development and regionalization of the towns, and, in a wider sense, the regions. The debates about the boundaries of regions show how the interests of power prevail over rationality, regional interests and traditions. It was because of the interests of those in power that the system of the eight regions was introduced in 1996. The interests of the parties that had won the elections demanded that the boundaries of the regions should be marked out in a way that was favourable for electoral geogra104