MOST-HID party, which bills itself as an ethnic reconciliation party and has MPs in the sitting parliament, and the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), which has no representation in parliament, cannot merge as they differ on several fundamental issues, said Béla Bugár, chair of Most-Híd after meeting with SMK leader József Berényi on May 30, the TASR newswire reported.
Another reason is animosity that certain people, including those at the lower levels, have attempted to sow between the parties, Bugár said.
"It can be felt," stated Bugár, as quoted by TASR, noting that in the general election campaign SMK reportedly damaged Most-Híd billboards. But Bugár said the two parties may be able to communicate on issues of concern to people and may even reach joint approaches. Bugár added that the meeting between the two party chairs may send a signal to citizens that tension is easing.
Beréniy said that more autonomy for ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia is one of the issues that SMK would like to continue to discuss with Most-Híd.
“We’d like to talk about existing models of minority autonomy in Europe,” Berényi stated, as quoted by TASR, adding that these models usually deal with issues such as education, culture and territorial autonomy for minorities living in a European country.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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