Political analyst Michal Horský on May 26 described as “appropriate” the reaction of the Slovak Government and Parliament to the Hungarian amendment on dual citizenship for ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.
According to Horský, it is an important and good thing that the Slovak Parliament has responded to the Hungarian amendment immediately. He claimed that only a badly-informed politician could think that Hungarian Prime Minister-designate Viktor Orbán would be willing to discuss the law with Slovak representatives.
However, another political analyst, László Öllős, said that the new Hungarian Government is not refusing to discuss the legislation. "The [Hungarian] foreign affairs minister [Janos Martonyi] travelled round neighbouring countries, explaining what kind of citizenship this will be and how it will work. No neighbour apart from Slovakia expressed reservations, despite the fact that ethnic-Hungarian minorities live everywhere, and in some places are numerous," he told the TASR newswire. Öllős thinks that the Slovak response has been significantly influenced by the pre-election period and the problematic view of Hungary as an enemy.
Horský warned that this situation isn't only about one law, but it is the beginning of a long-term period of conflict. He also thinks that Orbán's Fidesz party deliberately chose the general election period in Slovakia in order to help get more nationalist Slovak politicians into parliament. Öllős thinks that Fidesz submitted the amendment before the election because it wouldn't have helped to wait. According to him, the hysteria would have been the same after the election.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
