The Act
on Legal Status of Hungarians Living in Neighbouring Countries (hereinafter the
Act) that was adopted by the Hungarian Parliament in May 2001, sparked off a
political tumult in countries neighbouring with Hungary, especially in Romania
and Slovakia. At the beginning instead of international law experts, politicians
from various political parties air their “expert” opinions that they themselves
consider well founded.
The Act has been implemented in neighboring countries of Hungary including Slovakia since January 1, 2002. Without intending to be comprehensive, the analysis attempts to summarize the conditions of the reception of the Act in Slovakia and the aspects of its implementation. Center for Legal Analyses-Kalligram Foundation (CLA-Kalligram) systematizes and monitors those persons in the public eye who manifested themselves in any way to the Act and who are able to have an effect on people. Above all, CLA-Kalligram considers the measures and the attitude of the government, the Slovak diplomacy, the parliament and the political parties relevant.
1. The early measures of the Hungarian political elite and the Slovak
diplomacy during the period of the acceptance of the act through the eyes of
the media
The early attitude and standpoint of the Party of Hungarian Coalition (MKP) towards the Act on Status of Ethnic Hungarians can be best followed in the May and June editions of the Új Szó (a Hungarian daily in Slovakia). During these two months a surprisingly large amount of longer articles (30 of them) dealing with this topic has been published in this newspaper.
During the discussed period, before the acception of the act, the newspaper made a longer interview with only one ethnic Hungarian politician, Miklós Duray, one of the party’s vice-chairmans.[1] What concerns the other politicians of the party, they had the chance of giving only brief answers to the questions about the ID card.[2] Béla Bugár, the chairman of the party was the only exception who had the opportunity to make a statement about work abroad and the emigration of the intellectuals.[3] But articles about the circumstances of passing the Act, about the provisins of the Act and about the possibilities of working abroad are dominating in the newspaper. But we missed an overview of the Act. It is accessible on the Internet but only a very insignificant minority of the citizens have got an access to it. It also interesting that in May articles (12 of them) nearly exclusively about the reception of the Act in Romania were published in the newspaper (about the objections of Bucarest, about Romanian-Hungarian negotiations and the reactions of the RMDSZ – a Hungarian party in Romania). We could also read further articles about the Czech, Slovak, Romanian and Ukrainian Act in progress. The fact that the politicians of the Party of Hungarian Coalition didn’t really make statements about the Act before its final passing can have many reasons. On one hand maybe they didn’t want to get involved in the debates for tactical reasons, which was a good decision according to us. This behaviour can be explained by the fact that the Slovak parliament put the important bills and international agreements about the linguistic and cultural development of the ethnic Hungarians to the agenda.[4] There were also further provisions having a significant impact on the economic development of the Hungarian regions and on the strengthening of the regional authorities. So these topics were in the centre of attention in the discussed period thrusting the Act on Legal Status of Ethnic Hungarians into the background.
„Status Hungarians”
Who is a Hungarian? And who is a good Hungarian? What is the so called „Hungarian ID”, what does it actually mean and what is it good for? Is it possible and necessary to look after ethnic Hungarians living in the neighbouring countries by passing certain laws? Is a new type of psychological „Great Hungary” developing for the first time after Trianon? These and similar questions of various intensity have been resonating recently not only among the Slovak opposition being up and coming but also among the governing coalition, which the Party of Hungarian Coalition (MKP) is also a member of.
A negative attitude towards this law is mostly characteristic for Romania
and Slovakia, i.e. those countries where the Hungarian community is the biggest
in size. But at the same time we have to point out that the above mentioned
countries do have a similar law with the help of which they are able to provide
for their compatriots living in minority abroad.[5]
And still, they consider the Hungarian initiative unacceptable. The Prime
Minister of Romania emphasized himself that the application of the law will be
blocked through the intervention of state institutions in his country.[6]
According to legislators, the law is valid on the territories of Hungary
but some experts claim that according to the original idea, certain Hungarian
NGOs could have made recommendations and they could have summed the application
forms up – with the same thing happening in Slovakia – and this would have
justified the extraterritorial characteristic of the law. What concerns the
right to decide on issuing these ID cards, Béla Bugár, the chairman of the
Party of Hungarian Coalition (MKP) pointed out in an interview for the Kossuth
Radio before the law was passed that his party had had private conversations
with Csemadok, with the Alliance of Hungarian Teachers in Slovakia, with the
Alliance of Hungarian Parents in Slovakia and with the Alliance of Hungarian
Scouts in Slovakia in May because these organizations have got several primary
organizations working all over the country.[7]
„These organizations could form a top organization together, which – if it was
acceptable for our Hungarian partners - could issue recommendations needed for
the ID cards. I think it wouldn’t be very fortunate if the task was carried out
by the party. But to achieve this, we need to accept the executive provisions,
as the Act on status of ethnic Hungarians is handled by the party as a general
agreement.”[8]
There have been some apparent differences in the declarations of ethnic
Hungarian politicians regarding the reception of the act but it can be stated
that most of the reactions were consistent and positive. However, it is
interesting that their view about the law is quite general and emphasizes only
one projection of the law itself. Béla Bugár considered the act on legal status
of ethnic Hungarians very important but he pointed out that the act „could
legalize the work done by foreigners in Hungary”.[9] At the same time Pál Csáky, the
vice-president of the Prime Minister thinks that work is only a temporary
solution. According to him, the real solution is to settle affiliated companies
of Hungarian parent companies to Slovakia.
Though the Slovak Prime Minister didn’t use as strong expressions concerning the act as his collegue from Romania at first, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic had the ambassador of the Hungarian Republic called in several times for consultation in connection with the act in preparation.[10] While at the same time Eduard Kukan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized in his first declarations that this law would not have a bad impact on the Slovak-Hungarian relations. But during the parliamentary debate on the annual report of the Slovak foreign policy – which was exclusively about the act on status of ethnic Hungarians - the Slovak opposition criticized the government strongly. They raised objection to the Hungarian law rudely interfering in Slovakia’s home affairs and they said that the Slovak government should do something about it. Eduard Kukan replied to the criticism in a way that the most the cabinet can do is to give voice to their disapproval.[11]
A kind of shift could be noticed in the attitude of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs by June. In Strassbourg, at the general assembly of the Council of
Europe all the Slovak delegates (except for Árpád Duka-Zólyomi, the delegate of
the MKP) signed the motion of the Romanian delegates criticizing the Act on
Legal Status of Ethnic Hungarians after negotiations with Eduard Kukan and to
his recommendation. This all happened despite the fact that the motion was
inaccurate containing obfuscations and halftruth.[12]
Therefore tt is possible to come to conclusion that the Slovak politicians
supported this defective Romanian motion not knowing the text of the act at all
or that the Slovak government was unable to adopt a clear and unambiguous view.
It is possible that they accepted the Romanian view only because it was more
comfortable and easier for them.
At the same time, the Hungarian government wasn’t prepared for the Slovak
or Romanian reaction, and the fact that they (the Hungarians) failed to carry
out bilateral negotiations in the law preparing procedure made the situation
worse. The Hungarian government didn’t take into consideration how sensitive
the citizens of the neighbouring countries (together with their political
representatives irrespective of their political affiliation) will be to this
act. As a result, the anti-Hungarian atmosphere was stregnthened in Slovakia
too, which forged all the representatives of the Slovak parties together in the
National Council.
The MPs and the chairwoman of the Slovak National Party, Anna Malíková have
been criticizing the Act strongly for its discriminative character in each of
their interviews for the media. She claimed that the Act endangers the
sovereignty of the country and offends the interests of Slovaks.[13]
But it should be taken as a warning that the more moderate Slovak partners of
the Party of Hungarian Coalition have also taken on an anti-Act attitude. For
sure there are many people who would like to make a political capital of the
tension about the Act for the next parliamentary elections but it’s hard to
understand why Frantisek Miklosko, the representative of the
Christian-Democratic Party - who has received the Eszterházy prize recently –
talks about the dangers of establishing a psychological Hungarian Empire, as a
consequence of the Act.[14]
Ján Fígel, the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Slovakia thinks that this law is not a modern European solution, as it hinders
the Slovak-Hungarian relations. Mr Fígel pointed out that Slovakia will apply
only Slovak laws and ratified international contracts on its territories.[15]
According to Mikulás Dzurinda, it’s true that „the act isn’t good and it
doesn’t fulfil the legal requirements of the EU but it won’t concern Slovakia
as the country will become the member of the EU earlier than the Hungarian
enforce the Act”.[16]
However, he considers the Act a general agreement which cannot be applied
without further executive provisions. He pointed out several times that to stir
up nationalist feelings and to create a nationalist atmosphere is not the right
way, so he will initiate further sober-minded negotiations with his partner to
provide solution to the questions.[17]
The reception of the Act in Slovakia was ambiguous as the laws itself was
regarded acceptable only by the MKP and some less critical Slovaks but those
who could have judged the Act objectively remained silent, as expressing an
opinion about the law right before the following parliamentary elections
wouldn’t be a successful propaganda for anyone in Slovakia. But the majority
agreed that it’s necessary to wait for the executive provisions and only
afterwards will the concrete advantages of the Act become clear.[18]
2.
Political
events before and after the Act coming into force
Based on the above mentioned facts it might have become clear what was the reception of the Act like among the Slovak political elite. The summer period after passing the law went on without any special debates and it is also significant to point out that official negotiations between Slovakia and Hungary about the Act actually started only in October, two months before the Act came into force. Afterwards, a series of negitiations started about the concrete objections of the Slovak partners to the Act. On the Slovak side Jaroslav Chlebo, the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia was responsible for the process f the negotiations. The two partners started the negotiatons in Bratislava. In Slovakia the political representatives of the country have had their special roles concerning their attitude towards the Act from the beginning of the negotiation process. While the Under-Secretary represented the conservative side, Minister Kukan was considered moderate and the government (together with the Prime Minister) stayed out of it until until January. The first reconciliation meeting of the two Under-Secretaries took place on the 22th of November 2001. This period was characterized as the period of taking positions and by the end f November the debate reached the Slovak legislation. The Council of Foreign Affairs of the Parliament made an official statement in order to strengthen the position of the Slovak diplomacy during the negotiations against the Act on Legal Status of Ethnic Hungarians. The political parties started to take up a position concerning the Act from January 2002 and the debates grew more intense from the point when the Act came into force and the status offices opened.
3.
The
necessity of the Act – from the view of Hungary
The Act came into force on the 1st of January but until that point the publiic didn’t know much about the Act itself as the media hadn’t reall dealt with it objectively, though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia protested against the law in preparation in Hungary as early as in September 2001. It is probabale that there have been several debates in the Party of Hungarian Coalition about the applicability of the Act but these debates didn’t get enough attention in the media. The Act caught real attention only after it came into force on the 1st of January 2002 when the so called ’status offices’ started their activity. At that time a new organization called Union for Common Goals appeared on the scene and the Slovak media automatically related their activity to the Act. However, the chairman of the Union claimed that the demand for setting up such an association was formulated many years ago. Their original aim was to improve and develop Hungarian education in Slovakia but nothing has been achieved by them in this field yet.
The legislators of the Act explained the real aims of the law in a television debate on the 21th of March 2002. Zsolt Németh, the former Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary explained in a television programme called ’Aktuális’ that the Hungarian nation has to achieve a certain mental and spiritual unity. This process started in 1996 with the Hungarian-Hungarian summitand was continued in 1998 with the MÁÉRT summit. The idea of the Act on Legal Status of Ethnic Hungarians was first formulated on this summit in orded to re-unite the legal connections between all Hungarians. They believed that this will strengthen the human and economic relations too. ’Strengthening the Hungarian-Hungarian relations will be an obligatory task for the Hungarian government and public administration, and ethnic Hungarians living in the neighbouring countries are looking forward to the Act with great expectations’ – said Németh. According to the Orbán-cabinet, the Hungarian government had to give the opportunity to the ethnic Hungarians to develop a relationship of a new quality with Hungary.
According to the original idea, the Hungarian organizations in the neighbouring countries were supposed to establish a filter system in order to decide who can be considered a Hungarian, ie who can apply for and provided with the ID card. There should have been a two-level judging system: one level would have been the level of status offices, the other the level of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Hungary.[19] Taking the recommendations of the Committee of Venice into consideration, the Hungarian partners waived their claims to receive recommendations coming from the status offices abroad. As a concesquence, the role of the status offices changed and from that one their task has been to give advice, to give information and to mediate.[20] What concerns the applicants, it’s up to them based on what criteria they admit their being of Hungarian nationality, which entitles them to receive the ID card.[21] These crieteria are the following: the command of the Hungarian language, membership in a Hungarian organization in Slovakia, being considered as Hungarian by the church, being registered as Hungarian in the country of residence.[22]
4. The circumstances of founding the Union for
Common Goals (SZKC)
The most serious criticism of the Act in Slovakia referred to the
functioning of the Union for Common Goals, which was characterized as the
’symbol of extraterritoriality’ by Slovak politicians. From time to time, the
whole Slovakian political spectrum doubts the activity of the status offices established
by the Union being of the law. And what’s more, there has been an attempt to
ban their functioning.[23]
The opposition together with some governing parties have tried to ban the
activity of the SZKC through the law - unsuccessfully – and they also denounced
the Union to the court. The problem is that quetsions concerning the
establishment and functioning of the Union are justified. A question arises
whether the activity of the SZKC and the network of status offices directed by
them is the weakest loop of the chain of the Act.
In May 2001 the representatives of the Party of Hungarian Coalition had
negotiations with the Union of Hungarian Teachers in Slovakia (SZMPSZ), the
Union of Hungarian Parents in Slovakia (SZMSZSZ), the Csemadok and the Union of
Scouts about the establishment of a top organization which would issue the
recommendations necessary for the ID card. The SZKC was registered on the 29th
of November but they appeared in public only on the 1st of January when the Act
on Legal Status of Ethnic Hungarians came into force. Their first office opened in Dunajská Streda on the 8th of
January, followed by the others in Komárno, Galanta, Nové Zámky, Levice,
Lucenec, Rimavská Sobota, Roznava, Kosice and Královsky Chlmec. The last office
was opened in Bratislava, on the 28th of January. All the offices are located
in the headquarters of some Hungarian organization or institution (Csemadok,
Hungarian Houses, Union of Scouts, Coexistencia).
The costs of the offices are covered by the Hungarian government, eg. the
rent which makes up 25,000 Sk/3 months and has to be paid to the institutions
and organizations where the offices are located. The offices are equipped with
the latest computer technology, also by the support of the Hungarian government.
The selection of the office staff was carried out by the recommendation of the
founding organizations, so the posts were not advertised. The preparations and
the training of the staff took place in Hungary. The job is considered a
position of trust as the employees are having access to personal data. All of
the office staff were given a code registered at the Ministry of Home Affairs
in Hungary. The job of these people is to help the applicants fill in the
application forms and to give them information about the benefits provided by
the Act.
The original idea, according to which the offices would issue the recommendations has been altered as a
concequence of political pressure in a way that applicants have to mark those
conditions based on which they consider themselves Hungarian.
Those involved deny the fact that the SZKC and the offices were established
only in order to issue the ID cards but they admit that in the first few months
they concentrated mostly on this activity.
Though Rudolf Mézes, the chairman of the SZKC pointed out in one of his
interviews given to the Hungarian Radio that the demand for establishing such
an association arose earlier and that the founding of a Hungarian cultural
movement was formulated in 2002. This was the point when the five organizations
founding the Association agreed on the coordination of their common tasks (the
coordination of Hungarian education and culture in Slovakia), though the
activity of the SZKC is very far from these original ideas at the moment.
The work of the SZKC was evaluated on their general assembly on the 23rd of
February 2002. They stated that the Association is under strong political
pressure, which – according to them – has a negative impact on the interest
towards the ID cards.[24]
But the experience shows that the hostile atmosphere is only one of the reasons
for slight interest. It is probable that the allowances (travel discounts,
3-months work permit) advertised in the media are not that attractive for the
ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia as in Romania. There are more possible reasons
for mistrust: eg. giving out personal data or punitive sanctions (withdrawal of
child and social benefits, putting a tax on allowances and loss of jobs)
stressed by some Slovak politicians. The later have influence mostly on the
middle-aged for the reason of existance. The phenomenon is noticeable on the
regional level too, mostly in those areas where the unemployment is a serious
problem (Roznava).[25]
The minimal costs concerning the application (eg. photos) can be a real problem
for some families, so they really have to consider carefully whether to
continue with the process or not, as in some cases people have to travel to
Hungary to be given the ID card.
Mixed marriages also have an impact on the slight interest towards the ID
cards on the Slovak-Hungarian language border. In many cases it is not clear
whether the Slovak partner lays claim to the ID card for family members, as up
to the present only 1% of the applicants asked for such a card. The other reason
for uncertainty might be that the allowances for family members are not made
clear yet.
5. Allowances
The legislators set out from the fact that 60% of Hungarians living in Hungary would support the initiative to give rights and allowances to ethnic Hungarians on the territories of Hungary and to subsidize them in their homelands. But on the other hand 30% of Hungtarians is against such a discriminative attitude (even if positive).[26] Their economic reason was that 60-70 thousand people work in Hungary illegally – most of them are ethnic Hungarians form Romania and Ukraine – and the Act would legalize their work. In the future, lack of labour force will hinder the economic development of the country, as there are about 100,000 vacant jobs in Hungary at the moment.[27] Legal workers would mean legal income to the Hungarian budget but at the same time the Act can be applied to foreigners only after a strict and thorough survey on the labour market. According to the Act, the work permit is valid only for three months but it can be extended for good cause.
But the practice contradicts the original ideas. There has been a minimal interest in Slovakia concerning the work permit (only 8 applicants) up to now. The reason is that the 3-months work permit doesn’t solve the situation of the unemployed and on the other hand the complicated administration doesn’t really encourage those being unemployed for a longer period to look for a job in Hungary. Not to say that this opportunity attracts the unskilled labourers in the first place giving them a chance, though the difference between payments in the two countries is not significant, so this fact is not really motivating for the Slovak citizens. So we probably don’t have to worry about a real labour force emigration. The Slovak partners didn’t raise objection to this section of the Act, they protested against another part of it, ie. the one concerning the 20,000 Ft/child subsidy given by Hungary to those ethnic Hungarian families living in the neighbouring countries who send at least two of their children to Hungarian schools. The Orbán-cabinet was supposed to spend 4 billion Ft from the budget on this but as a consequence of the Slovaks’ objections, the Hungarian partners changed their view and from that on ethnic families have to apply for the subsidy themselves.[28] This special allowance will be in force and will be applicable from the 1st September 2002 (the beginning of the next school year) but it is still questionable to what extent the Slovak partners agree with the present structure.
The other group of the beneficiaries of the Act are teachers and students.
According to some assumptions, about 30,000 teachers will apply for the
teachers’ card in Slovakia but this card will be valid only together with the
ID card. Up to the present teachers had no special allowances in Hungary, so it
were ethnic Hungarian teachers who received such support first ever. These
allowances contain travel discounts (50%), discounts when buying specialized
textbooks, and are provided for primary school, high school and university
teachers as well. Those ethnic
Hungarian teachers to whom the Act applies can take part in further vocational
trainings in Hungary. There aren’t any concrete data concerning the number of
those teachers who applied for the card as the decree came into force only at
the beginning of March 2002.
The allowances provided by the student card for ethnic Hungarian students
will be identical with those provided for the students in Hungary (67% travel
discounts and discounts when visiting certain cultural institutions). The
problem with the latest is that the judgement of the cultural allowance will
depend on the maintainer of the institution, which can be the state, regional
authorities or individuals. So this way the extent of the allowance depends on
the free will of the maintainers and cannot be influenced by legislators.
According to assumptions, about 150,000 students will apply for the card but
this decree is also in force only from March 2002, so the real interest towards
the cards cannot be judged yet.[29]
The basic idea of the Act is to support student to remain in their homeland
but the practise shows that only 10% of ethnic Hungarian students studying in
Hungary return home, which is a very significant problem for the ethnic
Hungarian communities. The Act tries to prevent this from happening by
providing educational subsidy in the homeland in the form of coursebook, school
equipment and educational support for the families. Students studying in higher
education in the homeland can get different scholarships.[30]
The number of those interested may vary from 60 to 90 thousand but they also
need to have an ID to apply for these subsidies to the Apáczai and Illyés
Foundation.
6. Hungarian ID cards: to whom and for what
reason?
From the date of the Act coming into force to April only 30,000 people applied for the Hungarian ID card in Slovakia, which makes up only the 5% of the ethnic Hungarians here.[31] The arrangements concerning the teacher and student cards began only in March, so the extent of interest will be measurable only in autumn. This low rate of interest can be explained by the negative reception of the Act, by the lack of knowledge of the Act and by the delay of the executive decrees. But it is not impossible that after the Hungarian elections the two parties will come to an agreement concerning the application of the Act, which might increase the interest in all the fields.
The status offices undertook to manage and handle the applications. The first regional office opened on the 10th of January and afterwards it was followed by further offices until the whole office-network containing of 11 offices was complete. The equipping of the offices and the training of the staff was financed by the Hungarian government.[32] The selection of the locality of the offices indicates political and national affiliation.
The opening of the offices came as a surprise, just like the founding of
the Union for Common Goals. Everything happened behind closed doors, maybe
because of the expected attacks. The 33 persons working in the 11 offices
received a proper training, mostly in Hungary.[33]
They have probabaly gone through a serious prefessional, communicational and
psychological training where they could attain the application of positive
persuasive techniques and a convincing system of arguments, with the help of
which (together with the positive propaganda) they have to win the most ethnic
Hungarians possible over to the case. The arguments used by them are not excluding
people rather inclusive and responsive (eg ID cards for family members).[34]
Their task is to persuade those who are hesitating and to make the advantages
coming from the Act familiar to them.
While visiting the offices, on one hand we tried to map the field of work
of those working there, on the other hand we examined the motivation of
citizens applying for the ID cards and their knowledge about the allowances
provided by the Act.
First we visited four offices in the Western-Slovakian region: in Dunajská
Streda, Komárno, Galanta, Nové Zámky and the central office in Bratislava.
According to the staff, the interest was immense in the first few days.
They received 100 applications on average daily. In Dunajská Streda people
handed in 1500 applications since the opening of the office, in Komárno it was
400 and in Nové Zámky 900.
The collegues in the offices claim that the applicants are usually not well
informed concerning the Act, so they have to explain them briefly the essence
of the law. The applicants can be characterized by a certain generational
division: older people want to receive the ID card for emotional reasons while
the younger generation is much more interested in allowances provided by the
Act.[35]
The current political situation in Slovakia has an effect on these people, the
declarations of the representatives of different parties makes people hesitate.
Many of them have to be persuaded that their personal data will be treated as
confidential by the offices, the embassy and the Hungarian government. At the
beginning people working in the offices were able to refer only to a certain
extract of the Act as most of the informational materials and the executive
provisons were not ready yet at that time. Since then most of these materials
are ready. We were informed that since the 1st of February the number of staff
has increased by some outside workers, who carry out their task either as
voluteers or as employees in villages further away from the regional offices.
Their task is to visit people living in these areas, to inform them about the
allowances provided by the Act and to help the applicants fill in the
application form.[36]
The Union considers this job confidential[37]
and that’s why they tried to find people who are respected and accepted by the
certain communities (eg teachers, headmasters of schools or mayors) in that
area.[38]
What concerns our conversations with the applicants in the „status
offices”, we can state that:
-
Most of them
are uninformed, they don’t know much about the allowances provided by the Act
-
The older
generation has an emotional relationship to the ID card, they see it as symbol
of belonging to the Hungarian nation and as a moral satisfaction, they are not
interested in the allowances
-
Younger
people see the ID card as an opportunity for work in Hungary and partly that is
why they are interested. Of course there are misconceptions about the
card as well, eg. some people think that it will promote their settlement in
Hungary or that it will speed up the process of receiving Hungarian
citizenship.
-
People
interested in teacher and student cards were rejected as some details
(executive provisions) were not known yet at that time.
-
The interest
of the middle-aged is slight, they are considering. They were expecting more
accurate and concrete information taking the threatenings about the withdrawal
of child benefits, social benefits and the possible loss of jobs into account
in Slovakia. This group is considering the disadvantages of the ID card as
well, so many of them asked for more time to think it over.
-
What
concerns the interest towards the ID cards provided for family members, it was
insignificant at that time.
For the second time (April 7-9, 2002) we visited further offices in Central
and Eastern Slovakia (Kosice, Roznava, Rimavská Sobota, Lucenec, Levice). At
that time the Embassy of the Hungarian Republic registered 30,627 applications
in Slovakia. 7500 were from Eastern Slovakia (Královsky Chlmec, Kosice,
Roznava, Rimavská Sobota) and 23 127 from Western Slovakia (Dunajská Streda,
Komárno, Galanta, Nové Zámky, Bratislava). Since additional cards have been
available from March, we also surveyed the interest towards them. According to
what we have found, 336 teacher card applications, 459 student card
applications and only 8 instructor card applications arrived to the offices in
that month.
Taking the earlier experiences into account we can say that people working
in the status offices carried out a serious work informing people partly in
their own offices, partly outside on the terrain. Those interested knew much
more about the allowances provided by the Act than before. The network of
outside workers was well developed and well functioning. There are about 10-13
outside workers in each office, who are helping inform people, helping with the
distribution of printed material and with the collection of application forms.
The political situation in Slovakia still has an effect on the decisions of
people, so the office staff has to explain them from time to time that the ID
card doesn’t imperil their jobs and different social benefits. The information
given is more accurate and detailed, the offices are using different propaganda
materilas such as leaflets, brochures on different cultural programmes to
popularize their work. Maybe this is the reason for the increased number of
volunteers. So as a result, we can speak about a well functioning network, with
more than 100 members.
Those working in the offices are very active, tireless, working in an
almost unlimited time: they consider their evening and weekend journeys as part
of their job. For sure, they have a proper financial motivation and their
expenses are not limited either. The staff is well trained, they are using the
same system of arguments. The network of outside workers was formed quite fast
(in two months).[39] These
people are considered reliable and most of them are working in the different
organizations making up the Union (Csemadok, Party of Hungarian Coalition,
Union of Hungarian Tachers In Slovakia), but the church, the mayors, teachers
and headmasters were involved in the organization too. The offices have been
dealing exclusively with the collection and forwarding of application forms up
to the present but at the moment they are trying to add some extra tasks as
well. Eg. giving advice about possibilties of making the surname of women sound
more Hungarian and they are also starting a survey on the conditions of
Hungarian families in Slovakia.
We can say that there haven’t been any significant changes in the attitude
of Hungarians towards the ID cards. The emotional reasons are still dominating,
people consider the card as a symbol of belonging together and it still
symbolizes the home (Hungary) for them. The allowances don’t really concern
older people but they are not interested in them anyway. The younger generation
still finds the possibility of working in Hungary influential, and they are
motivated by travel and other discounts too. There are still some
misconseptions about the card. Young people think that this way they can settle
in Hungary more easily, they can get permanent work permit and they will be
exempt from tuition fees.
People in the offices on the Slovak-Hungarian language border are trying to
emphasize that the main principle of the Act is to keep those families together
where the parents are of a different nationality (eg. cards available for
family members). According to our experience, the number of those applying for
family member cards is much lower than expected. In those geographical areas
where mixed marriages are very common (eg. Levice) only 4,6% of the applicants
took advantage of this possibility.
There haven’t been any atrocious acts against the offices from the side of
Slovaks and according to the office staff, they were able to persuade the local
Slovak media of their intentions.[40]
Previously Slovaks called attention to the fact that because of the special
allowances provided by the Act, many Romas would claim themselves Hungarian in
order to receive benefits but these fears were not proved true. This assumption
didn’t prove to be correct, not even in those areas where the number of Romas
is very high (in the districts of Rimavská Sobota, Roznava, Lucenec, Královsky
Chlmec). According to our excperience, the Romas are not interested in
allowances in Hungary as the target country of their travels is not Hungary.
Finally we can say that there was a significant distrust from the side of
the office staff towards us during our first journey. They were sceptical and
rejected everyone who was interested in their job and the functioning of the
offices. After two months their attitude has changed a lot, their behaviour
became more resolute and convincing.
Though some of them remained distrustful, in some cases they refused to
provide us with accurate data.[41]
The so called outside workers, those who work with more people on the terrain
were very convincing. The were ready to use slight force during persuasion with
those hesitating and being indecisive, which turned out to be successful.
According to the staff those people who don’t apply for the ID card are afraid
to admit being Hungarian, so they cannot represent the Hungarian community
genuinely in the future. At the same time they admit that everybody has the
right to decide whether to apply for the card or not.
7. The End – New government in Hungary
The first section of the Act was closed by the parliamentary elections and
the leaving of the Orbán-cabinet in Hungary.
Victor Orbán, the former Prime Minister held his last press conference
on the 23th of May 2002. There he pointed out that he was unwilling to
sacrifice the Act on the altar of his and Mr Mikulás Dzurinda’s friendship. In
his interview for the Slovak Radio he admitted that their good relationship has
become worse. According to him, the reason for this is that there is a
significant difference in their view concerning the supporting of education,
which is an important section of the Act to which the Slovak partners have a
strong obligation. Orbán claims that giving educational support is so important
for the ethnic Hungarians that he cannot renounce it, not even for the sake of
their friendship, and he asked Péter Medgyessy, the new Prime Minister not to
renounce this aim either, as - according to Orbán – the Hungarian
nation-strategy is deeply concerned about the Carpathian-basin. In contrast to
him, János Martonyi, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary admitted
on his last press conference that Hungary followed a bad negotiation strategy
with their partners and and that’s why they weren’t able to convince them.[42]
The new government would like to solve this problem. László Kovács, the new
Minister of Foreign Affairs pointed out on his negotiations in Brussels on the
23th of May 2002 that ’the new cabinet will try to find a solution which
retains the original ideas and principles of the Act but will be acceptable for
the Slovak government at the same time too. The interest of Hungary and the
other countries of the region is to normalize their relations and to ease the
tension.[43] According
to Kovács, the solution is to counterbalance the Act or to come to a bilateral
agreement. The new solution has to meet
4 requirements:
-
It has to
retain the original aims of the Act
-
It has to
serve the interest of Hungarians living in the motherland just as well as those
Hungarians living in the neighbouring countries
-
It has to be
brought into harmony with the European norms according to the recommendations
of the Committee of Venice
-
It has to be
considered acceptable by the governments f the neighbouring countries
[1] Uj Szo, May 24, 2001
[2] Uj Szo, June 21, 2001
[3] Uj Szo, June 21, 2001
[4] The ratification of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Langauges and the Reform of Public Administration
[5] The Parliament of Romania on July 15, 1998 passed the Act No. 150 on supporting Romanian communities abroad, the Slovak status law was passed on February 14, 1997, during the Meciar-government.
[6] Új Szó, May 14, 2001
[7] Miklos Duray, the Vice-President of Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) confirmed this on May 24, 2001 in Uj Szo
[8] Uj Szo, May 24, 2001
[9] Uj Szo, June 21, 2001
[10] Uj Szo, June 5, 2001
[11] Uj Szo, May 23, 2001
[12] Uj Szo, July 6, 2001
[13] Új Szó, June 21 2001, also the program of TV Markiza called “Sito” on June 25, 2001
[14] The program called Žurnál of Radio Twist onJune 20, 2001
[15] Ibid and Új Szó, June 21, 2001
[16] BBC, June 22, 2001
[17] Slovak Broadcast, Dialogy, June 23,
[18] The already borned executive orders were sent to Slovakia in January 2002 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. However not every executive orders has been made public.
[19] Zsolt Németh, Deputy Minister of Foregn Affairs of Hungary in : MTV 1, Aktuális, March 21, 2001
[20] Venice Comission Report, October 19, 2002, point D.
[21] Lásd a végrehajtó rendeletek összefoglalása, www.htmh.hu
[22] See information leaflet about the Hungarian ID Card, archive of the authors
[23] Új Szó, May 11
[24] Interview with Erzsebet Pogány, Head of he Secretariat of SZKC, Kossuth Radio, February 23, 2002
[25] Interview with Edit Fábián, Head of SZKC office in Roznava
[26] Interview with Zsolt Nemeth, MTV
[27] Ibid
[28] Ibid
[29] Presentation of Adam Ríz, Head of the Section of Minority Education at the Mnistry of Education of Hungary, Roznava, April 7, 2002, archive of the authors
[30] Ibid
[31] Information provided by Embassy of Hungary, Bratislava
[32] Information confirmed by different officers at regional offices of SZKC as well as Rudolf Mézes, Head of SZKC and Erzsebet Pogány Erzsébet, Head of the Secretariat of SZKC
[33] Ibid
[34] Interviews with regional representatives of SZKC (record in archive of authors)
[35] Ibid, interviews recorded on January 29, 2002 and April 7-8, 2002
[36] Interviews in Kosice, Roznava, Rimavska Sobota, Lucenec on April 7-8, 2002
[37] Offices of SZKC don`t provide personal data
[38] Interview with Attila Vörös, Office of SZKC, Rimavska Sobota, April 7, 2002
[39] Interview with Erzsebet Pogány, Hungarian Broadcast, March 22,2002
[40] Interview with Zsuzsa Molnár, Lucenec, April 8, 2002
[41] Interview with Janos Erdélyi , Head of SZKC, Levice, April 8, 2002
[42] News in Hungarian Broadcast, May 23, 2002
[43] Új Szó, May 24, 2002