After a four-hour debate on Tuesday, May 25, the Slovak Parliament approved – with 113 votes out of a possible 150 – a resolution expressing concerns about Hungary's proposed dual citizenship legislation, the TASR newswire wrote.
All political parties except for the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) voted for the resolution. Parliament also instructed Speaker Pavol Paška (Smer) to inform the Hungarian side about the declaration. Subsequently, the extraordinary parliamentary session was adjourned until Wednesday at 22:00, pending Hungary's next steps.
If the Hungarian Parliament adopts the controversial legislation (its vote is scheduled for Wednesday morning) despite Slovakia's reservations, the Slovak Parliament will pass an amendment to the Citizenship Act in a fast-track proceeding. According to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer), one of the changes that would be introduced by the amendment would be to allow any Slovak citizen who takes seeks to adopt the citizenship of another state to be automatically stripped of their Slovak citizenship.
The Slovak Parliament in its resolution pointed out that if Hungary adopts the amendment to the Dual Citizenship Act, it will be a unilateral step directed towards creating institutional bonds between Hungary and members of the Hungarian ethnic minority living in Slovakia through bestowing a sort of 'state connection'. The text goes on to say that the Slovak Parliament deems it unacceptable that the Hungarian National Assembly is about to adopt extraterritorial legislation concerning Slovakia's citizens without consulting with Slovakia, as suggested by the Fundamental Treaty between the two countries.
Immediately after parliament passed the resolution, Paška (Smer), sent the document by diplomatic post to his Hungarian counterpart Pál Schmitt.
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.
