Slovak President Receives Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs

The President of the Slovak Republic received Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi. In the beginning, President Ivan Gašparovič said he was glad that “the contacts with Hungarian top state officials have been so intensive since the beginning of this year”. After Hungarian President Pál Schmitt and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Foreign Affairs Minister Martonyi is the third Hungarian top official to have visited Slovakia this year. “We consider Hungary a very important neighbour and a valuable partner in NATO and EU structures,” the Slovak President said. He further emphasised that Slovakia wished to engage in a constructive dialogue with Hungary, built on mutual understanding and respect. “Such an atmosphere should accompany our talks on ‘de-historicising’ and ‘de-ethnicising’ our relations,” he added.

The two officials also discussed energy sector related issues and agreed it was necessary to continue interconnecting energy transport and transmission systems between both countries.

Ivan Gašparovič said he was looking forward to the upcoming jubilee meeting of presidents of the V4 group member countries to be held in Visegrad to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of this regional group. “The Visegrad cooperation has played a crucially important role in the Central European region and has strong prospects of keeping this role in the future,” the Slovak President said.

President Gašparovič appealed to the head of Hungarian diplomacy that the Hungarian partners should understand Slovakia’s objections and concerns over some political moves taken by Hungary as a legitimate effort to defend the interests of all citizens of the Slovakia Republic, as an effort to defend Slovakia’s national and state interests through political negotiations. “The pathetic recourse of Hungarian policy to the past and a certain degree of manipulation with young people do not leave me cold,” President Gašparovič said, adding that “it is a historical truth that some periods of our common history, especially during the 19th century, are considered by Hungarians as positive and enlightening, whereas Slovaks deem them negative and traumatising. The Slovak historical experience should also be respected.”

The Slovak President said that every state had a right to have its own constitution, but it must also bear in mind the consequences this fundamental law may have on neighbouring countries. The newly adopted Hungarian constitution represents a problem in this respect, as it creates legislative conditions for the unification with Hungarians living outside Hungary through the Act on Dual Citizenship.“The Constitution of the Republic of Hungary is in breach of the principle of the so-called genuine and permanent bond between the Republic of Hungary and Slovak citizens of Hungarian origin,” President Gašparovič pointed out. He further reminded that Slovakia would appreciate Hungary’s response to the proposals submitted by Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radičová at her meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister. The proposals involve a draft bilateral agreement to resolve citizenship-related issues by both countries. Slovakia would also appreciate if implementing regulations to be enacted by Hungary after the adoption of its new constitution took into account the objections voiced by Hungary’s neighbours.

János Martonyi responded that the preamble of the new Hungarian constitution included a mention of national minorities which were part of the political life in Hungary and one of its constituent elements. According to Martonyi, Hungary has committed itself under the constitution to preserving and maintaining languages and cultures of national minorities. He noted that there was a crucial difference between Slovakia’s and Hungary’s approach to the rights of national minorities: “Hungary’s approach has for 20 years been built on the recognition of collective minority rights. Therefore, we have passed a law on the establishment of minority self-governments.” János Martonyi further added he was familiar with the position of the Slovak Republic on this issue, which prefers civil rights of an individual over collective ones. He noted there were as much as 13 countries in Europe that recognised collective minority rights, adding that Europe had no binding legislation in place to govern this particular issue.“At the same time, our constitution says we respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, including our neighbours,” minister Martonyi said. The Hungarian minister further said that Hungary would respond to, and discuss with Slovakia its proposal to address the issue of dual citizenship by means of a bilateral agreement only after the Slovak political parties will have found consensus on this issue. At the end of the meeting, Slovak President Gašparovič mentioned several particular examples when steps taken by the Hungarian government, or its intentions, had given rise to serious doubts as to its readiness to further strengthen good neighbourly relations. The Slovak President invited the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister to intensify a bilateral dialogue in order to seek solutions to controversial issues in Slovak-Hungarian relations.