Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Annex
Most Frequent Stereotypes Concerning Slovak-Hungarian Relations... only in regions where ethnic Hungarians make up a relatively homogeneous and compact entity, i.e. especially on Žitný ostrov (Csallóköz), an alluvial island formed by the Danube River, and the strip between Komárno and Štúrovo. Stereotype 7 : EtEimíc party is obsolETE The last stereotypical argument we would like to discuss is the opinion that political parties based on ethnic foundation are obsolete in modern Europe; therefore, advocates of this view argue, SMK-MKP as an ethnic party is an unnatural element on Slovakia’s political landscape. This argument is incorrect in its entirety. First of all, it is a completely normal phenomenon that national minorities in Europe are organized in - and represented by - their own political parties. The most commonly known examples of such parties that are also represented in their respective countries’ national parliaments include the Swedish People’s Party (Svenska Folkpartiet) in Finland, the South Tyrolean People’s Party (Südtiroler Volkspartei) that represents ethnic Germans in Italy and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (Dviženie za prava i svobody) that represents ethnic Turks in Bulgaria. Of course, there are many other such parties all around Europe. Secondly, a party that champions minority rights may not necessarily be an ethnic party in the literal sense of that word. After all, it is very difficult to define what an ethnic party is as there are no objective criteria. In the European Union, there is not a single party representing national minorities whose statutes would include a provision on ethnic exclusivity, and SMK-MKP is no exception in this respect. In other words, membership in these parties is open to all citizens. If any party’s statutes spelled out a provision on ethnic exclusivity, it would amount to discrimination, let alone the fact that such clause would be virtually unenforceable in practice as affiliation to national or ethnic groups is a matter of free choice. Thirdly, even if we did agree that SMK-MKP was ?n ‘ethnic’ party in the sense that it defends primarily the interests of its principal target group (i.e. ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia) and that its candidates’ lists feature almost exclusively persons of Hungarian origin, we would also have to add that this practice is nothing unusual in Slovakia’s political reality as nationwide political parties representing the majority apply exactly the same approach. As it was poignantly observed by Miroslav Kusý, not a single nationwide ‘Slovak’ party running in the 2006 elections mentioned tackling the issue of national minorities in its election program and none of them 295
