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
Kálmán Petőcz An example worth following in this respect was the position adopted by the SZDSZ, the minor ruling party in Hungary whose representatives were the only members of Hungarian parliament not to endorse the Law on Foreign Hungarians in 2001. Three years later, they opposed proposals to resolve the double citizenship issue in a plebiscite. They argued that while the solution would partly materialize one of principal ambitions of Hungary’s foreign policy, it would also undermine an equally important ambition of maintaining good neighbourly relations - particularly with Slovakia, a candidate country that was knocking on the EU door - which might negatively affect ethnic Hungarians living there. It was therefore symptomatic that SZDSZ leaders, including Chairman of Hungarian Parliament’s Committee for EU Affairs Mátyás Eörsi, showed no mercy when commenting on the new political situation in Slovakia. Widely viewed as one of Hungarian politicians with the friendliest attitude to Slovakia, Eörsi even urged the EU to adopt similar measures with respect to Slovakia as it had introduced in the case of Austria in 2001.6 Initially, the Robert Fico administration manifested an honest interest to maintain good bilateral relations with Hungary, particularly through Foreign Affairs Minister Ján Kubiš whose first official visit upon inauguration was to Budapest. Fico attended a reception on the occasion of Hungarian public holiday organized by Hungary’s ambassador to Slovakia. Deputy Prime Minister Dušan Caplovič even sent a letter of congratulation to the ambassador in which he subscribed to the legacy of Hungary’s patron St. Stephen. At the same time, though, government officials continued in their efforts to convince the public at home and abroad that principal responsibility for tensions in Slovak-Hungarian relations rested with SMK-MKP whose leaders were unable to get over their relegation into the opposition. Slovakia’s diplomacy apparently felt that the Hungarian side inadequately appreciated its endeavour to maintain good neighbourly relations expressed by some of the mentioned gestures. The Report on Discharging Foreign Policy Tasks of the Slovak Republic in 2006 described this disappointment in the following way: “Although the new Slovak Government declared a desire to cooperate with Hungary from the beginning, which may be illustrated by the fact that the first official trip of Foreign Affairs Minister Ján Kubiš was to Budapest, Hungary began to mount on Slovakia inadequate diplomatic and political pressure that borders on meddling with internal affairs and chose the strategy of internationalizing mutual relations.”7 Premier Fico never clearly and unambiguously dissociated himself from anti-Hungarian statements presented by Ján Slota or incidents with anti-70
