Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Annex
Annex - Kálmán Petőcz Hungary exceeded the number of ethnic Slovaks who consider Slovak to be their mother tongue. It remains to be seen whether the total number of ethnic Slovaks in Hungary represents the critical mass that is still capable of extensive reproduction. It seems a mere illusion as long as the issue of minority education remains unresolved; however, the system of minority education can only work if there is a sufficient number of capable pedagogues with good command of Slovak language. Without the Slovak government’s active involvement in this area, the Slovak community in Hungary is obviously doomed to extinction because the Hungarian government under current circumstances is simply unable to produce enough Slovak teachers of acceptable quality even if it was driven by the best interests. In Slovakia, basic trends seem to be sustained, as the number of ethnic Hungarians who consider Hungarian to be their mother tongue continues to be higher than the number of those who claim Hungarian ethnicity (ethnic nationality); regardless of the identity criterion, the total number of ethnic Hungarians permanently declines. The number of ethnic Hungarians who claim Hungarian ethnic nationality declined from 567,000 in 1991 to 520,000 in 2001. According to sociologists’ estimates, the next population census scheduled for 2011 will reveal that the total number of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia has meanwhile declined significantly under the psychological limit of 500,000. The number of ethnic Hungarians who consider Hungarian to be their mother tongue is likely to remain above that limit, although it will probably decline by almost 100,000 compared to 1991 when 608,000 ethnic Hungarians claimed affinity to Hungarian as their mother tongue. A more detailed look at the census figures reveals that the greatest decline in the share of ethnic Hungarians was recorded in municipalities where that share hovers just above or just below 20%. Here, the share of ethnic Hungarians between two most recent population censuses declined by 15%, which was almost double as fast as on the nationwide level. In Levice, Lučenec, Veľký Krtíš, Šaľa and Senec, ethnic Hungarians’ share of these towns’ total population declined by more than 20%. It is exactly the same phenomenon that was experienced by ethnic Slovaks in Hungary: as soon as their share on the local level dropped under the critical limit of 20-25%, their assimilation accelerated significantly. A similar trend may be observed in Slovakia, not only in the case of ethnic Hungarians but all other national minorities whose number is below the critical mass. It turns out that Slovakia is equally unable to adopt effective measures aimed at halting the irreversible assimilation process. The assimilation process is relatively slow 294
