France and Slovakia
Political relations
The France-Slovakia relationship intensified in 2023, with a visit by President Macron in May that saw the signing of a new action plan for the Strategic Partnership.
Our bilateral relationship is built on the 2008 Strategic Partnership, of which the action plan was renewed in 2013, 2018 and 2023. It has intensified dialogue, developed economic ties (cross-investment, trade, tourist flows), and brought about cultural cooperation, particularly in the educational field.
The 2023-2027 action plan aims to strengthen every dimension of our bilateral relationship: political partnership, security and defence cooperation, economic relations, cooperation on the environment and energy, on transport and tourism, on justice and administration, in the cultural and scientific fields, and in the area of health.
The year 2023 saw the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and Slovakia (1 January 1993), marked with several cultural, academic and economic events organized in both countries throughout the year.
French presence
- French Embassy website: https://sk.ambafrance.org/
- French community in Slovakia: 897 people registered (April 2023)
- Slovak community in France: 8,500 registered in 2018 (10,000 estimated)
Visits
President Macron visited Bratislava on 26 October 2018 and President Zuzana Čaputová visited Paris on 24 July 2019. President Macron returned to Bratislava on 31 May 2023 and gave an important speech at the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum on the relations between France and Central Europe and on European Union enlargement. During that visit, the President was received by President Čaputová and Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor.
There has been much contact and many visits between ministers in recent years including visits to Paris by the Slovak Defence and Justice Ministers in October 2021 and the visit to Bratislava by the French Minister of State for Europe, Laurence Boone, in November 2022.
Ambassadors
- French Ambassador to Slovakia: Pascal Le Deunff (since September 2021)
- Ambassador of Slovakia to France: Ján Šoth (since September 2023)
Economic relations
France is Slovakia’s fifth-largest customer and ninth-largest supplier. French goods exports to the country stood at €3.2 billion in 2022, with metal products and transport equipment accounting for half. Slovak exports to France, mainly of automobiles, stood at €5.4 billion that year.
Following a period of significant French investment in Slovakia, including the arrival of GDF and EDF in 2002, then PSA in 2003 (plant in Trnava, 50km from Bratislava), leading to the arrival of several French parts manufacturers, disengagement has been seen since 2012 with the departure of GDF Suez, EDF and Suez Environnement.
There has however been an uptick in the French presence and French subsidiaries numbered 488 in December 2019. The Stellantis site is being reorganized to focus on electric vehicles. In the services sector, Orange is the leading mobile telephone operator in the country, where it has been present since 1997. Veolia is very present in the heating networks field. French construction companies are also well established in Slovakia.
Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation
Educational and linguistic cooperation is based on a network comprising the Institut Français in Bratislava; two branches of the Alliance Française in Košice and Banská Bystrica; and 17 French language assistants. There are four Franco-Slovak bilingual sections, which were recently awarded the “FrancEducation” label, with around 700 pupils, in top secondary schools in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica, Košice and Trenčin. The French school in Bratislava is accredited with the local school system and offers double certification with the French Baccalaureate and the Slovak Maturita.
An arrangement on educational, linguistic, academic and scientific cooperation for the period 2016-2019 was signed on 22 November 2016 and was renewed on 7 December 2020.
Slovakia has been an observer member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) since 2002.
Updated: October 2023