Robert Fico Promises a New Law on the Legal Status of National Minorities

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Minister of Culture Martina Simkovicová held talks with Krisztián Forró, President of the Hungarian Alliance, at the Government Palace in Bratislava on Friday, and an agreement was reached on the creation of a law on the legal status of national minorities and the maintenance of the autonomy of the Minority Culture Fund.

“During talks with Prime Minister Robert Fico, we expressed our demand for the creation of a law on the status of minorities. The prime minister agreed on the need to codify the legislation on national minorities and entrusted the preparation of this to Ákos Horony, Government Commissioner for Minorities,” the Hungarian Alliance said in a statement.

The creation of such a law has been a long-standing demand of the local Hungarian community, but there has been no concrete idea or will on the part of Slovak politics to implement it.

This meeting between the Slovak Prime Minister, the Minister of Culture, and the President of the Hungarian Alliance was announced earlier, when Krisztián Forró met Robert Fico before the prime minister’s visit to Budapest, and discussed the most important issues affecting the local Hungarian community and the regions they live in.

At the recent meeting, they agreed that the Minority Culture Fund, responsible for the state funding of minority culture, would remain independent, following a suggestion by the Ministry of Culture that it could be merged with another fund. The functioning of the Minority Culture Fund and the distribution of its resources under the previous government were the subject of much criticism from minority organizations.

During today’s meeting, Minister of Culture Martina Simkovicová confirmed that the Minority Culture Fund and the Arts Fund will not be merged, and we were promised that the funds will operate independently and more efficiently in the future,”

the Hungarian Alliance stated, adding that representatives of national minority communities and the government commissioner for minorities will also be involved in the restructuring process.

According to information from Hungarian news portal ma7.sk, the meeting also discussed other issues concerning national minorities, including the expansion of the powers of the government commissioner for minorities and the obligation to provide subtitles for Hungarian online media in Slovakia. “The head of government showed agreement on most practical issues,” they wrote.

Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Forró Krisztián