Region: OSCE weighs in on dispute

By Robert Hodgson

From The Budapest Times

The high commissioner on national minorities of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) visited Budapest and Bratislava as part of a continuing effort to settle a row between Hungary and Slovakia over the latter's reformed language law. Meanwhile, comments by the Hungarian foreign minister have further stoked tensions as a bilateral committee on minorities was set to meet for the first time Sept. 25.

Knut Vollebaek told senior officials in both countries that the Slovak law was "not necessarily against European norms," but was ambiguously worded and needed firm guidelines over its implementation in order to avoid discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.

The 63-year-old Norwegian diplomat has found himself at the center of the dispute between the neighboring EU states after Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, issued a joint statement Sept. 10 agreeing to various measures aimed at improving bilateral relations and those between Slovaks and ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia.

Despite this rapprochement, Fico refused to heed calls from many in Hungary and ethnic Hungarian politicians at home that recent amendments to the Slovak State Language Act be repealed. Aspects of the law, such as the provision that only Slovak can be used in official documentation in localities where the ethnic minority is less than 20 percent of the population, have angered many of Slovakia's 500,000 Hungarian-speaking citizens. However, Fico did agree to abide by any recommendations that the OSCE - invited by both sides as a mediator - should make on the practical implementation of the law.

"As the OSCE's commissioner on minority affairs, it is my duty to monitor minority rights, but also to help minorities to integrate into society in the country in which they live," Vollebaek said in Budapest Sept. 15.

Bajnai said after meeting Vollebaek that he was reassured the Slovak legislation will not be used to punish people unjustly for using their native tongue. The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, center-right opposition Fidesz politician Zsolt Németh, thanked Vollebaek for standing up for ethnic Hungarians and mediating between Hungary and Slovakia.

Vollebaek expressed concern over the lack of clarity and ambiguity in some parts of the Slovak legislation.

"There is no doubt that certain paragraphs in the legislation are unclear and can be interpreted in several ways, so it is essential to work out careful guidelines on how it is applied," Vollebaek said.

He reiterated those sentiments in Bratislava Sept. 16, saying the lack of precision in the legislation calls for a set of unambiguously phrased instructions on its application.

Vollebaek made 15 recommendations, which Slovak officials declined to make public. Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák said the Slovak-Hungarian joint committee for minorities will discuss the amended Slovak language law Sept. 25. Vollebaek met Hungarian Coalition Party (MKP) Chairman Pál Csáky on the evening of his visit. More than 10,000 attended an MKP-organized protest against the language law in early September.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Balázs reignited tensions Sept. 17 in an interview with German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, prompting the Slovak foreign minister to summon the Hungarian ambassador to Slovakia, Antal Heizer.

In the interview, Balázs likened Slovakia to a younger brother that Hungary must tutor in "European manners." He also made unflattering comparisons between Slovakia and the merciless regime in Romania under dictator Nikolae Ceausescu.

Slovakia's Foreign Affairs Ministry summoned Heizer and conveyed "Slovakia's resentment and Lajčák's personal disappointment" over statements Balázs made to the German newspaper.

Balázs and his Slovak counterpart will have the opportunity to make up on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week. "We want to demonstrate a marked advance toward meeting this joint declaration of the prime ministers within two months," said Lajčák, speaking of the 11-point joint declaration signed by Bajnai and Fico during their meeting Sept. 10.

Diplomatic relations have worsened since the right-wing Slovak National Party joined the governing coalition in 2006.

Robert Hodgson can be reached at news@praguepost.com