The politicians also adopted a joint declaration with conclusions.Continue reading
The government has so far taken all necessary steps in the matter of the Language law of Slovakia and will continue to work to ensure that it does not have any negative impact on the rights of Hungarian minorities, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Monday.
The politician first reported on the bad experiences in Ukraine at the meeting of the Committee on National Cohesion of the National Assembly, recalling that the rights of the Hungarian national community to use their mother tongue have been significantly curtailed in the neighboring country since 2015, and the issue has not been resolved to this day.
We are also hearing news about the amendment of the language law in Slovakia, therefore we started professional consultations on this issue at an early stage,”
he underlined.
Since its introduction in 1995, the language law has been relaxed several times, and after 1998, the post of language supervisor was abolished, and it is now the ministry of culture that monitors compliance with the rules and can impose penalties for breaches of them. The very lenient regulation currently in force was drafted under the government of Ivana Radičová (2011-2012).
The Hungarian Minister noted that he himself is in constant contact with his Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanár on many issues, including on this one. “He has informed me that the reason and the purpose of this new language legislation is in no way to trump the representation or use of minority languages, (…) Thus, this thinking did not start because of minority languages and is not directed at minority languages,” he emphasized.
He added that his counterpart in office had told him that they wanted to protect the Slovak language from external influences arising from the nature of the world, allowing for an increasingly rapid flow of information. “If that is the aim, it is reassuring. But usually it is not the objectives but the implementation that determines the outcome, and that is why we have maintained that we will be consulted as the bill progresses, so that no aspect is inadvertently introduced into the law that could have a negative impact on the use of Hungarian,” he stressed.
Minister Szijjártó pointed out that the Slovak Ministry of Culture is responsible for drafting the bill, and that a political leader of the Hungarian community recently consulted with the head of the Ministry,
and he saw a clear commitment that the aim is not to marginalize the Hungarian language.”
He noted that the Slovak government has a Hungarian minority commissioner, Ákos Horony, who is also in constant consultation with the Ministry of Culture, and that the Hungarian Embassy in Bratislava is in constant contact with him.
“Hence, I think that we have taken all the steps that were necessary to be aware of the situation and to avoid negative consequences. And we will continue to take all these steps, of course,” he concluded.
Via MTI, Index; Featured image via Facebook/Potápi Árpád János