On 1st May 2024 we will commemorate the 20th anniversary of entry of Slovakia to the European Union, which was the end of a difficult journey we embarked upon in 1995. Enlargement, in principle, was approved by the European Commission in 1997, but unfortunately the Slovak Republic was not invited to join the intensive talks about future membership of the European Union as it neither met the political criteria nor had sufficient respect for human rights or the principles of democracy.      However, the parliamentary elections of 1998 brought about a change in Slovakia that was perceived by...