The removal of customs barriers, especially as regards agricultural and other "sensitive" products, will also play a role. The abolishment of customs tariffs on imports from the EU will on the other hand cause a decline in the prices of imports and subsequently an increase in their volume. According to the calculations of the overall effect on GDP growth of changes in the area of taxes and infrastructure investments within the framework of the acquis following accession to the EU, an additional growth of around 1%, accompanied with a tendency toward the appreciation of the Slovak crown's exchange rate, has been estimated. From the standpoint of the effective adaptation of Slovak enterprises to the competitive pressures in the EU, the 2000 Lisbon European Council, which specified education, science and research and innovation potential as the most effective factors for increasing the competitiveness of EU countries in the increasingly globalised market, was of great importance. Slovakia seriously lags behind in this area.

Expenditure on education as a share of GDP in Slovakia is more than a third lower than in the EU. Even though the educational level of the Slovak population in productive age is only slightly under the average of small EU countries, this is not true of the proportion of population with university degree, which reaches only 8.7% in this age group, compared with 24% in small EU countries. In the middle of 2003, every school leaver in the EU will be computer literate. Despite the Infovek programme adopted, of the 3340 schools in Slovakia only 540 have Internet access. Expenditure on research as a percentage of GDP is 0.37% in the EU and only 0.07% in Slovakia, despite the fact that students' participation in research is generally considered as the basic condition for the development of their creative and innovative capabilities. Research and development expenditure per hundred thousand inhabitants is roughly 6 times greater in the EU than in Slovakia. Its share in GDP in Slovakia is 0.68%, while it is 1.86 % in the EU. There is also a low level of expenditure on the enterprise sector's innovation activities. This is a result of preferring imports of modern technology with the aim of reducing the risk of developing it in the domestic environment, as well as a result of the lack of funding. The share of innovative enterprises in the total number of enterprises in the manufacturing is 3 times higher in the EU than in Slovakia.

Good financial standing is one of the internal building blocks for a company's development and one of the conditions for swift adaptation to the conditions of the EU Single Market. An analysis of the results of a survey in selected enterprises shows that, as regards financial standing, approximately a quarter of large industrial enterprises are not competitive. The trend toward growing indebtedness and worsening liquidity is typical for them. Low indebtedness indicates higher growth in wages and labour productivity. Investing in human resources is more difficult for companies facing problematic financial situation. Insufficient interest of employees in increasing qualifications is typical for the most indebted companies. Financial standing also influences innovation policy. The majority of the most indebted companies have no strategic plan for innovations and reach insufficient technological level. Price competition is typical for the group of the most indebted companies. The decline of their share in the relevant market is accompanied with deterioration of the companies' financial position. It has been confirmed that sectors with better financial standing sell their production in foreign markets more effectively, i.e. with better terms of trade.

In certain cases, we find the way companies see themselves as regards competitiveness disputable. For instance, a half of the most indebted companies consider themselves competitive. Companies with worse financial standing dominate in positive expectations of future conditions for access to loans. With the continuously low transparency of the majority of enterprises, these expectations are irrational. Enterprises with a high share of debts will be more vulnerable when the conditions become tighter on their markets. This poses risks for the future. Only companies with excellent financial standing will be able to make use of the advantages arising from the decline in interest rates and the new access to the capital market. The practice of companies preferring the high concentration of ownership, whereby creating a barrier to the acquisition of financial resources on the capital market, is to their disadvantage. The overall readiness of the enterprise sphere to enter the EU Single Market is inadequate. This conclusion arose from surveys carried out by experts from the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry - Eurochambres - in ten candidate countries. According to them, almost a half of Slovak companies have yet to start preparations for entering the EU Single Market.