Robert Fico’s Government to Let Slovak-Hungarian Children Keep Dual Citizenship

Hungary Today 2024.10.24.

The Slovak government is looking to terminate the citizenship agreement with Hungary signed in 1961, following the decision of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s cabinet on October 23, reports Új Szó. This is good news for the children of Slovak-Hungarian families, who will be able to keep both their nationalities if the decision is approved by the parliament.

According to the agreement, children whose parents are dual citizens, or one was Hungarian and the other Slovak, would be given the citizenship of their parents’ choice. If they could not agree, the child became a citizen of the state whose territory he or she lived in. According to the Slovak government, however, preventing dual citizenship for children is contrary to the Constitution.

The agreement is aimed at preventing dual citizenship for minor children, which is contrary to the Constitution, the European Convention on Nationality, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

says the Slovak government, justifying the termination of the agreement.

Only Slovakia has kept to this communism-era agreement, which Hungary unilaterally declared invalid in 1999. At the time, the Hungarian government also justified the decision on the grounds that it was unconstitutional to deprive children of Slovak citizenship against their will.

Slovakia is also terminating a similar agreement with the former Soviet Union that now applies only to Russia.

The government’s decision still has to be approved by parliament, and the agreement will cease to apply 12 months after the other party has been notified.

Fact

Although the recent decision is a step forward for the Hungarian minority, Slovakia still has rather controversial laws on citizenship. Back in 2010, Robert Fico’s first government introduced a law that does not allow people living in Slovakia to take the citizenship of another country. The law creates an unfair situation, especially for national minorities living in the country. The Slovak government made this decision at the time in response to the Hungarian government’s efforts to make it easier for Hungarians living outside the country to acquire Hungarian citizenship.

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Via Új Szó, Featured image: MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd