Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Kálmán Petőcz: Slovakia since 2004 - National Populism and the Hungarian Issue
Slovakia since 2004... Hungarian motives. This further strengthened anxiety and distrust on the part of ethnic Hungarians as well as the sensitive public opinion abroad. A declaration condemning displays of extremism and intolerance passed in the Slovak parliament after lengthy haggling could not possibly substitute an unambiguous statement by the country’s top executive official.8 One of such anti-Hungarian incidents was the attack on Hedviga Malinová, an ethnic Hungarian student of the Nitra-based University of Constantine the Philosopher who was battered in living daylight on August 25, 2006, just because she spoke Hungarian on the street. At first, law enforcement organs took an uncompromising attitude to the incident that was harshly condemned by some ruling parties’ representatives. Premier Fico not only failed to condemn the incident in a way that would be expected of a prime minister but three weeks later he appeared on a press conference along with Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák at which they jointly accused Malinová of lying and insinuated that the entire incident might have been motivated by the endeavour of “certain circles” to harm the Slovak Republic. By appearing on the press conference, Fico clearly politicized the entire affair because investigation of the case was not over at that point; in fact, it has not been properly concluded even by the time of putting the present publication together in fall 2009. Furthermore, it turned out that much of the so-called evidence presented by Minister Kaliňák at the press conference was simply not based on truth. The SMK-MKP also contributed to politicizing the case to a certain degree. For instance, Member of Parliament Gábor Gál (SMK-MKP) took over as Malinová’s legal counsel immediately after the notorious press conference. Also, SMK-MKP Chairman Béla Bugár called on ethnic Hungarian citizens to report all verbal and physical attacks on them to the nearest local SMK-MKP branch. While this kind of politicization does not even begin to compare to cabinet officials’ meddling with independent investigation, the Slovak public embraced the view taken by most media that it was SMK-MKP that had politicized the incident and that Malinová was a ‘liar’ and a ‘provocateur’. The incident’s aftermath also negatively affected the bilateral meeting of both countries’ prime ministers Ferenc Gyurcsány and Robert Fico that was scheduled to take place during the Visegrad Four summit on October 10, 2006. Shortly before the meeting, Gyurcsány cancelled it, which was viewed as unfortunate and incorrect by most media and political analysts on both sides. During winter months that followed, emotions in Slovak-Hungarian relations calmed down a little, only to gather new strength in February and 71
