CAMBRIDGE, England -- Slovakia is the eastern part of the old Czechoslovakia that left the federation in 1993. It came off worse economically in the break-up, unfairly so, but it won in the geographical carve-up, getting two-thirds of the wine country and above all, the Tatra mountains.

Although in a recent visit I saw derelict factories everywhere -- victims of the loss of the captive Soviet market -- that was probably no more than could be expected in a country undergoing a major structural transformation. It was clear that the basic infrastructure is sound. It was also clear that the largely well-educated people is capable of turning the country into a Western-style liberal economy -- if they get the support of the Western democracies. There's the catch. Slovakia is preparing for a general election next month, with more than the usual range of domestic issues at stake.

Slovakia is one of the 12 countries that are candidates for membership of the European Union. It is expected that the decision on membership will be made at the EU summit in Denmark in December. Unusually, the EU has let it be known that if the leader of certain of the parties contesting the election wins and thus becomes the democratically elected prime minister, or if he emerges as prime minister as the leader of a coalition of parties, then Slovakia will almost certainly be refused membership.