Knut Vollebaek, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, confirmed in Budapest on Tuesday that he would continue to monitor the implementation of Slovakia’s amended state language act.
Vollebaek arrived in Budapest on Tuesday after talks in Bratislava on Monday. He first met Foreign Minister Peter Balazs to survey initial experiences in implementation.
The high commissioner told a press conference that legislation was an internal matter.
“Passing laws is Slovakia’s internal affair. In the case of this law, however, Bratislava asked for OSCE’s advice in drafting the implementation guidelines,” adding that he would continue to monitor the implementation of the language law.
Balazs said that since the guidelines had taken effect on January 1, priority should now be given to monitoring how the law is applied.
He said the amended law in question had upset the balance in Slovakia as it was not accompanied by a reinforced law on minority languages and a comprehensive law on minorities.
“Once these have been put in place, we can speak about a kind of legal and political balance,” Balazs said.
Vollebaek added that the Slovak state language had not been amended “in the most successful way”, its text contained obscure points, leaving broad room for interpretation, but he added that it did not contravene international norms.
Asked about Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak’s Monday statement, asking Hungary to stop spreading lies and misinformation about the amendment, Balazs said he did not believe Lajcak had directed the remark at him personally.
“Hungary seeks to follow the events in Slovakia objectively and mainly relies on the factual information received from minority organisations,” he said.
