President Vaclav Havel, campaigning hard to keep Czechoslovakia together, has called on Czechs and Slovaks to decide in a referendum if they really want to rush into a "wild divorce."
Havel issued the call Sunday during his regular weekly radio address. A considerable number of people in both regions support keeping some form of common state.Havel has strongly advocated the idea of a referendum ever since demands for greater sovereignty began growing in Slovakia following the fall of communism to a peaceful revolution in 1989.
"A referendum is the only constitutional and moral way," Havel said Sunday.
Czech leader Vaclav Klaus and Slovak leader Vladimir Meciar agreed early Saturday that Czechoslovakia should break up. They asked their respective regional parliaments to work out a final arrangement by Sept. 30.
The deal left open a slim chance the 74-year-old federation would survive, but the two parties Klaus and Meciar led to regional election victories in June 5-6 elections are far apart on the kind of federation they would accept.
Klaus is an advocate of a strong central government and continuing rapid market-oriented economic reforms he has fathered as federal finance minister. Meciar favors a loose confederation giving the two republics separate international status and supports more state intervention.
Commenting on Havel's remarks, Klaus said at a news conference that he and the Slovak side wanted to "keep all options open."