Hungarian, Slovak leaders issue joint statement after tension-filled meeting

Hungary and Slovakia, smarting from mutual accusations of failing to rein in radical nationalism, issued a joint statement on advancing reconciliation between the two countries at a summit between prime ministers Ferenc Gyurcsany and Robert Fico.

Promising to combat nationalism, intolerance and its violent manifestations, the two leaders however also engaged in sharp exchanges at a joint press conference after the meeting in the border town of Komarno, Slovakia.

Fico complained about Hungarian “fascists” exporting their ideologies to Slovakia, and accused the Hungarian government of failing to do enough to stop them. Gyurcsany insisted that Slovakia’s government had not so much as flirted with radical nationalism and anti-Hungarian policies as embraced them fully.

Tensions between the two countries escalated after Fico formed a coalition over two years ago with a nationalist party headed by Jan Slota, who has often hurled insults at Slovakia’s ethnic Hungarian community and Hungarian public figures.

Gyurcsany accused his counterpart of not doing enough to distance himself from the anti-Hungarian remarks of his coalition partner, and complained too that Fico had stood by while Slovak policies discriminating against ethnic Hungarians had been implemented.

Since the end of the First World War, which saw the break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with the Treaty of Trianon, Slovakia has been home to a large community of ethnic kin mainly centred around the border where the two leaders met.

Many Slovaks see the 500,000-600,000-strong Hungarian community has the fulcrum of radical nationalist sentiment from over the border. After Hungarian football supporters were assaulted by police at a match with an ethnic Hungarian team in Dunajska Streda on November 1, radicals in Hungary burned the Slovak flag.

Fico said that if the flag-burning had happened the other way round — in other words, had Slovaks been caught burning the Hungarian flag — then the perpetrators would have been prosecuted.

Hungary, for its part, is angered by what is sees as prejudiced treatment of the Hungarian community there. A key Hungarian complaint is that the education ministry controlled by Slota’s Slovak National Party has discriminated against Hungarian-language schools.

Fico told the news conference that he intended in future to distance himself from remarks by the Slovak National Party which defamed Hungary or its politicians. But he added that no one should attempt to dictate how democratic Slovakia forms its government.

Gyurcsany said Fico’s response to the issue of the police assault on Hungarian citizens at the match was unsatisfactory. He said that evidence had so far indicated that the police’s actions were neither proportionate nor conformed to the law. It is disappointing that Hungary has still not received the results of an inquiry into the incident in spite of repeated requests, he said.

But despite their sharp words, the joint statement expressing “strong and unequivocal opposition” to radical ideologies and movements was seen by many Hungarian politicians as a move forward.

The two leaders have undertaken to oppose “any kind of extremism, xenophobia, intolerance, chauvinism, nationalism and every manifestation of violence …” and to “…use all political and legal means necessary to fight these phenomena …”

The statement also commits the two countries to exchange information and co-operation during the investigation of specific cases of harm against national minorities.

National minorities form a “natural connection” between of the two countries, enriching and strengthening relations, the statement says. “Education of the national minorities of the two countries serves the objective of preserving [their] ethnic and cultural identity.”

Both countries’ citizens wish to live in “an atmosphere of good neighbourly relations.” They are determined to deepen bilateral co-operation in all areas, the joint statement continues.

Further, Slovakia and Hungary will advance “the cause of cross-border co-operation” and economic and social ties, it concludes.

No real breakthrough could have been expected at the summit but it is significant in itself that dialogue has started, Matyas Eorsi, a senior liberal Free Democrat official, told MTI. Eorsi, chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that Hungary must win the support of Slovak democrats and Slovakia must examine and publish a report into what took place at the match in Dunajska Streda.

Conservative opposition Fidesz criticised the lack on any mention of the Forum of Hungarian Representatives of the Carpathian Basin (KMKF) in the joint statement. The Slovak parliamentary resolution outlawing ethnic Hungarian representatives from participating in the KMKF was unacceptable, and it was regrettable that Gyurcsany had not ensured that the issue appeared in the contents of the joint statement, said the party’s spokesman.