In 2009 the Slovak parliament passed a language law, mandating preferential use of the state language – Slovak. Use of a non-state language when conducting business could carry a financial penalty. Similarly, a penalty could be given for publishing books, journals or scientific proceedings in a language other than Slovak, or for singing in public in languages other than Slovak or the song's original language. The 2009 amendment has been severely criticized by
Hungarians in Slovakia, as well as the government, civil organizations and general public of neighboring
Hungary, for being discriminatory toward Hungarians and their rights to use their
Hungarian language. The controversy about the law is one of the key points in
Hungary–Slovakia relations, brought to their lowest point for many years. Opponents have described the law as one that "criminalises the use of Hungarian;" however, according to the Slovak government, the law itself doesn't interfere with use of minority languages.
Criticism in Hungary Gordon Bajnai, the Hungarian Prime Minister, has charged Slovakia of scapegoating Hungarian speakers. Hungarian foreign minister
Péter Balázs compared the creation of the language law to the politics of the
Nicolae Ceauşescu regime on the use of language. Hungarian newspaper
Budapest Times has questioned the dual standards for use the
Czech language in Slovakia; however, this charge ignores the
mutual intelligibility between Czech and Slovak, which renders them compatible in business and law.
President of Hungary László Sólyom expressed his worries about the law, because according to him the law violates "the spirit and at some places the word" of several bi- and multilateral agreements, and its perceived philosophy of "converting a multi-ethnic state to homogenous nation state" and "forced assimilation" is incompatible with the values of the European Union and the international laws protecting minorities. Hungarian Prime Minister
Gordon Bajnai said the law violates the words and the spirit of several bilateral and international agreements. He said Slovak politicians "do nationalism for a living" and he suspects the minority issues are getting into the foreground in Slovakia "to cover real problems".
Péter Balázs, Foreign Minister of Hungary, told
Die Presse that Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister, is "unfortunately trying to get popularity by cheap means". According to Balázs, the real reason for the language law is gaining voters for the parliamentary elections of next year in Slovakia, by "playing the 'Hungarian card'", and sees the issue as "part of a little political game". He also stated that regarding the bilateral relations, he doesn't expect much from Robert Fico any more. Hungarian foreign minister
Péter Balázs compared the creation of the language law to the politics of the
Ceauşescu regime on the use of language.
Lajos Bokros, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former Hungarian Minister of Finance, condemned the law in a letter stating that Hungarians in Slovakia "want to get along on their homeland", and reminded Slovakia's MEPs that the Hungarian minority did a great contribution to Slovakia joining the European Union and the
Eurozone. Hungarian radical right-wing party
Jobbik organized a half-road block demonstration on the border in Komárom, stating that "the issue is no longer an internal affair of Slovakia, but an issue of European level". Chairman
Gábor Vona called the law "the shame of Europe", by which Slovakia "goes beyond the frameworks of democracy", he called the Slovak politics "aggressive and racist". Vona urged peace between Hungary and Slovakia as he fears there will be a laughing third who profits from the conflicts, naming
globalization as a common enemy of the two nations.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences The
Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences published a Statement on the Amendment of the Slovak Language Law, and it has been signed by many people from around the world, including
linguists such as
Noam Chomsky,
Peter Trudgill,
Bernard Comrie,
Ian Roberts, and
Ruth Wodak. The Ethnic-National Minority Institute of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences analyzed the law and found that "in the interest of protecting and supporting the mother tongue, the Slovak legislature's law amendment violates several basic rights the protection of which is in any case required by international legal obligations". The institute brought an example of a fireman helping an escaping person who does not speak Slovak, and is forced to only reply in Slovak, according to their analysis of the law.
International reaction OSCE ,
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities concluded that the law does not violate any international standards.
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities,
Knut Vollebæk, reviewed the law and issued a report in which he concluded that: He also stated that the law itself does not violate any international standards or obligations of the Slovak Republic; it is more the perception of the newly enacted possible financial penalisation that can exacerbate the already present tensions. He also called for a very reserved application of the penalisation clause. The
Party of the Hungarian Coalition (MKP) asked the Slovak Government to release communication exchanged between them and Vollebæk so that the opinion of Vollebæk regarding the law could not be misrepresented or distorted. According to the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs the report was released unchanged and in full. Spokesman Peter Stano stated: "It is obvious that the Party of the Hungarian Coalition was unable to question the reliability of the Vollebæk report, that law is following the legitimate goal and it's in accordance with all international norms." Vollebaek will monitor the situation until the law on minority language use will reach the level of the state language law in Slovakia.
Slovak Academy of Sciences Slovak linguists from the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics of the
Slovak Academy of Sciences are reluctant to comment on the amendment, as the issue is highly politicised. In their opinion, however, aside from the fines, the law introduces only minor changes to the wording previously enacted.
European Parliament (EP) , President of the European Parliament said the issue revolving around the law harms the spirit of European integration and the principles of democracy. According to the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL), the President of the European Parliament,
Jerzy Buzek, said the issue was beyond being simply an affair between Slovakia and Hungary and was becoming an issue of the whole European Union because it harms the spirit of European integration and the principles of democracy. However, he said "we need to study it thoroughly in order to find out whether the legal framework has been violated".
Michael Gahler, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, also criticized the act, saying Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his coalition partners "have yet neither mentally nor politically arrived in Europe". Gahler stated that Slovakia is violating "commonly respected standards in the EU" and is disregarding the recommendations of the Council of Europe, "which foresee the extended use of minority languages". According to Gahler, Slovakia risks discrediting itself as an EU member and could again become a "totalitarian state" if the new provisions are consistently applied. He suggested that a "modern and open Slovakia communicating and cooperating closely with its neighbours" would be better both for the country and its citizens; however, he does not expect this from the present Slovak government coalition.
Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) called the law absurd. According to
Hans Heinrich Hansen, president of the
Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), "a language law which makes it a punishable offence to use a language does not belong on the statute books of a European country". He said this law is "totally absurd" Hansen recommended examination of a good example of minority treatment, that of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. He promised that FUEN will speak in Brussels about the issue of the law.
Forum Minority Research Institute Kálmán Petőcz of the independent Forum Minority Research Institute in Slovakia told IPS that the law "could be seen as an expression of the superiority of Slovaks over all other nationalities in Slovakia". He said it only serves to worsen the everyday relations between Slovaks and ethnic Hungarians, and also quoted research "showing that many young Slovak schoolchildren have prejudiced attitudes towards their Hungarian counterparts". Petőcz thinks some politicians in the government are "clearly nationalist and anti-Hungarian", however he sees most of the government as "just populist", who try to find "any 'enemy' to pick on and use that to win votes". László Ollós, a political analyst of the same institute, criticized the law for being too ambiguous, in order "to give as much power as possible to bureaucrats, so that they alone can decide when to apply the law and when not to". The BBC gives the number of protesters as around 10,000, The event was attended by several hundred extremists, mostly Hungarian nationals, who expressed their vocal support for a territorial autonomy and chanted "Death to
Trianon". These were not addressed directly nor denounced ex post by the organizing party of SMK and its leader Pál Csaky. The attendees also claimed that they were "not protesting against Slovaks in general, they were protesting the fact, that they have no rights whatsoever as a national minority". All the major Slovak political parties denounced the meeting as counterproductive feat, that will only exacerbate the tension. == 2011 amendments ==