As of July 17, Slovak citizens will lose their citizenship if they willingly decide to give it up or if they apply for the citizenship of another country, according to an amendment to the State Citizenship Act approved by parliament on Wednesday, May 26, with 90 MPs out of the 115 present voting in favour.
In the final vote of the current parliament, the legislation was backed by Smer, the Slovak National Party (SNS), the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH). The amendment proposal came in response to a piece of legislation approved by the Hungarian Parliament on Wednesday morning. The amendment passed in Budapest will make it easier for any ethnic Hungarian living outside Hungary to obtain Hungarian citizenship.
Slovakia's new legislation stipulates that automatic loss of citizenship status won't apply in cases where people acquire dual citizenship via marriage or birth. Slovak citizens will lose their citizenship automatically on the same day that they acquire a second one.
"Dual citizenship is an undesirable phenomenon in view of the fact that granting another one amounts to a person's attachment to two countries simultaneously. Due to the rights and duties that this attachment introduces, serious problems may occur in practice," said Prime Minister Robert Fico, the TASR newswire reported.
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.
