SLOVAKIA: Hungarian Autonomy Feared

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, May 4 2007 (IPS) - There are fears the election of a new leader for the ethnic Hungarian party in Slovakia will revive the most explosive domestic political topic in the country – autonomy for the Hungarian minority.

The possible radicalisation of Slovak politics could also come as a result of an upsurge in anti-Hungarian rhetoric by the extreme-right Slovak National Party (SNS), now in coalition with the senior governing socialists of Smer (Direction) Party.

The SNS is known for its staunch opposition to autonomy, which it sees as a first step towards Hungarian irredentism. This fear is shared by many Slovaks, and political parties are often tempted to use the “anti-Hungarian card”.

Slovakia, a country of five million which became independent after the Czechoslovak split in 1993, is home to a 500,000 strong ethnic Hungarian minority, representing 10 percent of the population.

Slovak-Hungarian relations have often been characterised by mistrust, and the collapse of state socialism in 1989 has revived some of the historical tensions. Slovak language and nationhood were severely repressed by Hungarian authorities under the Austro-Hungarian Empire that disintegrated in 1918.

Last month Pal Csaky was elected chairman of the opposition Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) replacing Bela Bugar, considered a pragmatic politician and admired by much of the Slovak political spectrum.

Bugar’s conciliatory style gained him respect and even votes from ethnic Slovaks who saw him as a reform-minded figure. Some analysts go as far as claiming his ethnicity was the only impediment to him ever becoming prime minister.

His greatest political achievement was to unite the previously splintered Hungarian political forces into a single party, which eventually joined the right-wing governing coalition between 1998 and 2006.

Yet following the 2006 parliamentary vote, in which the SMK obtained 11.8 percent of the vote, slightly losing its support base, the party found itself in opposition.

The elections were won by the Socialist Smer, who did not forgive the SMK’s participation in right-wing cabinets, and opted to form a government with the populist Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) of former prime minister Vladimir Meciar and the extreme- right SNS.

The SMK, which had supported the previous government’s pro-market reforms, gradually lost elements in the state administration, and there was discontent among party members over a loss of influence in Slovak political developments.

Also, Bugar’s alleged links to business lobbies and his supposed disregard for regional opinions in the party cost him his post. Under the new leadership, many Slovaks fear the topic of autonomy for the Hungarian minority will be discussed more openly.

“Csaky is considered as expressing opinions in a more clear-cut way, but it won’t be strengthening extremism,” Grigorij Meseznikov, president of the Institute for Public Affairs, an independent institute in Slovakia, told IPS.

The analyst argues that the ethnocentric element has influenced the Hungarian community, but that the phenomenon is “a reaction to the whole political atmosphere” in Slovakia.

During the chairman’s election Csaky was backed by the controversial deputy chairman Miklos Duray, who has several times called for Hungarian self-governance. Duray has the reputation of a radical nationalist, and some of his colleagues feel he harms the party with the content and timing of his statements.

“It is very possible autonomy will be more discussed, that’s legitimate. The question is how politicians in the SMK will treat the issue,” Meseznikov says. “Autonomy would require changing the constitution, and there won’t be a constitutional majority for that.

“I do not see the necessity of territorial autonomy, the best solution would be the participation of the Hungarian party in the government,” Meseznikov told IPS. “When they are part of a broader democratic alliance, they can address more issues.”

While vowing to focus more on ethnic Hungarian voters, Csaky has so far denied he will push for autonomy, and promises continuity. He however spoke out in favour of promoting social issues, indicating a possible turn to the left for the Christian-Democratic Party.

However, he also said he would not seek an alliance with the “populist” left-wing governing party, and said he would continue to promote cooperation with the opposition Christian Democratic parties.

“A socially oriented market economy is not an invention of left-wing theoreticians and parties, but a classic doctrine of Christian democratic parties,” he told the press.

Yet the first signs for the changed leadership are not positive, as fresh polls indicate lower popularity for the new leader and a decrease in support for the SMK. The party is also facing political isolation as even its former allies in government are distancing themselves from the new leadership and adopt a wait-and-see strategy.

Moreover, another topic is likely to bring tensions into Slovak-Hungarian relations. SMK deputy chairman Duray is demanding financial compensation, even if symbolic, to those Hungarians who, similarly to Germans, were displaced in former Czechoslovakia following World War II.

Due to Hungary’s alliance with Germany, Hungarians in Czechoslovakia were considered “traitors” and collectively punished by expropriation and removal of citizenship. Some of these measures were cancelled in 1948.