national populism and slovak – hungarian relations in - MEK

Kálmán PetõczNational Populism and Slovak – Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 – 2009. Forum Minority Research Institute Šamorín – Somorja, 2009ually returned to Slovakia’s public discourse. The Ministry of Education ledby an SNS nominee drafted a new strategy of minority education whoseobjective could be summed up in a single sentence: make (all) ethnicHungarians in Slovakia (finally) speak Slovak. The SNS once again proposedto adopt a law on the protection of the republic, using as a pretextan ‘exotic’ and solitary initiative by Komárno-based entrepreneur JánosBósza to create so-called Southern Highland autonomy. Later, the SNScame up with an idea to introduce ethnic quotas to municipal elections inthose municipalities where Slovaks make up a minority and stricter conditionsto the citizens’ right to assemble. Slota repeatedly labeled citizens ofHungarian origin “Hungarianized Slovaks” and proposed to ‘stake out’Slovakia’s southern border by monumental double-crosses.For the sake of objectivity, we are compelled to say that CultureMinister Marek Maïariè and Deputy Prime Minister for Human RightsDušan Èaploviè made at this period several accommodating gestures towardthe Hungarian minority. For instance, the financing model of the SlovakRadio’s minority broadcasting was settled temporarily; the volume of fundsallocated to support minority cultures was raised moderately; the futurefunctioning of Ifjú Szívek, the sole professional folklore ensemble of ethnicHungarians, was solved provisionally.Generally speaking, though, the entire period since June 2006 electionsmay be described as quite confrontational in terms of Slovak–Hungarianrelations, at least on the level of top politics. While it seemed that this confrontationtone was set by the SNS or, according to some politicians andjournalists, the tandem of SNS – SMK–MKP, it was paradoxically PremierRobert Fico and his SMER-SD fellows who firmly held the conductor’sstick. For instance, in a statement released on June 17, 2007, on the occasionof the 15 th anniversary of adopting Declaration on Sovereignty of theSlovak Republic, Fico said he “desired beyond all measure to make theSlovak Republic a true and peaceful home for the Slovak nation as well asfor loyal minorities”. Using the term of “loyal minorities” inevitably insinuatesSlovakia also has ‘disloyal minorities’; in any case, such a statementsets the majority and minorities against each other, although not as overtlyas virulent statements by Ján Slota. A number of public statements and concretelegislative initiatives by SMER-SD representatives (e.g. the bill onassociations or the new Press Act draft) clearly indicate that they view governancemerely as execution of power, democracy simply as the rule ofmajority; furthermore, they identify their government with the state, whichthey aim to build by strengthening the national principle. In this situation,the maneuvering space of ethnic minorities is quite limited.76