SLOVAKIA: Govt Popularity Rises with Xenophobia

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, Dec 11 2006 (IPS) - Slovakia’s controversial left-wing government, condemned for its alliance with a xenophobic, far-right political force and suspended from the Party of European Socialists, is more popular than ever at home.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister, the social-democrat Robert Fico, was elected following last June’s parliamentary elections with the promise of creating a more welfare-oriented society while criticising the previous government’s neo-liberal orientation.

Election winner Smer Party formed a coalition with two smaller forces, one of them Jan Slota’s nationalist SNS. Analysts argue Smer’s choice of coalition partners was aimed at minimising opposition to its programme.

Faced with a disoriented and divided opposition, Smer remains unchallenged, boasting a 60 percent approval rating. Its leader Fico, is according to surveys, the most trustworthy politician in the country.

The coalition’s momentum was confirmed by the Dec 2 municipal vote in which the government-led coalition obtained the largest vote, though the right-wing parties scored high in all regional capitals.

In spite of international approval for the achievements of Slovakia’s economically liberal right-wing governments between 1998 and 2006, the majority of Slovaks were unhappy with the harshness of reforms.

Many right-wing voters in Slovakia feared the new government would reverse the previous cabinet’s reforms and go ahead with its pre-electoral social-oriented programme, but the government has instead taken a cautious approach to the domestic situation.

The social-democratic party still intends to join the euro in 2009, and has pledged to keep the public finance deficit under control. The economic situation could not be better, with a record 9.8 percent growth of the Gross Domestic Product in the third quarter, which economists thank the previous government for.

But it is Smer’s association with the nationalists that has given the Prime Minister a headache, especially due to reports of widespread attacks on members of the 500,000-strong ethnic Hungarian minority of Slovakia.

Slovakia, a Slavic country of five million people, resulted from the 1993 split of the Czechoslovak federation. But for most of its history it was under the Hungarian kingdom’s authority, and national resentment persists on both sides up to today.

Most European governments have pointed to a causal relation between a xenophobic party in government and the increase in aggression on members of ethnic minorities.

Smer, which belongs to the Party of European Socialists, received a 10-month membership suspension because, in the European Socialists’ words, it had formed a coalition with a “xenophobic, nationalistic party.”

The last drop for the European Socialists came with Smer’s failure to condemn xenophobic attacks against Slovakia’s Hungarian minority last August.

The Hungarian government was also energetic in its condemnation of both the nature of Slovakia’s governing coalition and of the attacks on ethnic Hungarians within the borders of its northern neighbour. But diplomatic tension has by now cooled down.

Smer officials claimed their suspension from the European family was a “punishment” for not inviting the SMK (Hungarian minority party) to join the governing coalition after the June parliamentary elections.

Smer officials also insisted the SNS was not “extremist”, while calling the ethnic-Hungarian SMK “problematic”.

Government officials are suspicious of Slovakia’s Hungarian party, and statements questioning their loyalty to the Slovak state are not unheard of. The nationalist SNS has even called for the political grouping to be outlawed.

Fico usually ignores extreme statements by partner SNS members, but he has nevertheless failed to dissociate himself from the extremists’ views, who get electoral dividends out of anti-Hungarian rhetoric.

The most visible incident involving minorities concerned a female student who claimed last August she was attacked by two men who overheard her speaking Hungarian.

Following protests by the Hungarian government, Slovak authorities accused the Hungarian party SMK of trying to capitalise on the situation. A week later authorities announced the student had fabricated the incident, and the case was closed.

The investigation raised serious doubts in both Slovak and non-Slovak media because of reports that it was marred by irregularities, but it is unlikely the case will be reviewed.

Attorney-General Dobroslav Trnka threatened to charge the Hungarian student with “spreading public alarm” if she dared reopen the case.

Columbus Igboanusi, executive director of the Bratislava-based League of Human Rights Advocates, is worried about the kind of precedent this sort of government action could set, and describes the situation as “a blunt violation of all international human rights.”

Igboanusi is concerned that the ruling coalition, which he calls “national-oriented”, is showing the wrong attitude towards minorities in the country. “The government is on the defensive instead of being pro-active,” he told IPS.

“They want to suppress an outcry and condemnation of such issues by threatening criminal prosecution,” he warned.

“As a human rights lawyer I cannot be satisfied,” Igboanusi said. “She should be given the right to complain without linking her to any political party, ethnicity or nationality,” he told IPS.