Language law of Slovakia
Encyclopedia
The state language law of Slovakia
fixes the status and regulates the use of the Slovak language
. It took force in 1995 and underwent a major amendment in 2009.
The 2009 amendment has been severely criticized by Hungarians in Slovakia
, as well as the government, civil organizations and general public of neighboring Hungary
, for being discriminatory toward Hungarians and their rights to use their Hungarian language
. The controversy about the law is one of the key points in Hungary–Slovakia relations
, brought to their lowest point for many years.
Representatives of other minorities living in Slovakia have raised no objections to the amendment.
The law declares priority for the Slovak language over any other language spoken in Slovakia, as it claims the Slovak language is "an articulation of sovereignty of the Slovak Republic". The law names several circumstances of public and official situations, in which — e.g. doctors (although all medical personnel are exempt from the financial sanctions) — the use of the Slovak language should take precedence both in written and spoken form. Despite this, the law does not apply for the Czech language, which can be used in any circumstance and occasion whatsoever, as Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible.
The 2009 modifications include issuing penalties of 100 to 5000 euro
s for not using Slovak when prescribed by the law despite repeated written notice.
and Slovakia. The Slovak National Party and its cultural organization Matica Slovenska
urged the creation of laws to "protect" the state language. The modifications (called "language law without exceptions") of 1995 contained punishments for not using Slovak in official communication, regardless of the percentage of the minority in the area. This was later shown to violate the constitution of Slovakia and was abolished by the Constitutional Court.The new 1995 law vacates the earlier \isbn=9780805840544|pages=303}} It constitutes an interesting irony, that while the European Union
is busily engaged in promoting linguistic diversity, a few nations are still trying to create an environment in which the nation-state is defined in terms of linguistic homogeneity.
at least 20% minority.
In 2009 the Slovak parliament passed a language law, mandating preferential use of the state language – Slovak
. Use of a non-state language when conducting business could carry a financial penalty. Similarly, a penalty could be given for publishing books, journals or scientific proceeding in a language other than Slovak, or for singing in public in languages other than Slovak or the song's original language.
Opponents have described the law as one that "criminalises the use of Hungarian", however according to the Slovak government the law itself doesn't interfere with use of minority languages.
, the Hungarian Prime Minister, has charged Slovakia of scapegoating Hungarian speakers. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Balázs
compared the creation of the language law to the politics of the Ceauşescu
regime on the use of language. Hungarian newspaper Budapest Times has questioned the dual standards for use the Czech language
in Slovakia, however this charge ignores the mutual intelligibility
between Czech and Slovak, which render them compatible in business and law.
President of Hungary László Sólyom
expressed his worries about the law, because according to him the law violates "the spirit and at some places the word" of several bi- and multilateral agreements, and its perceived philosophy of "converting a multi-ethnic state to homogenous nation state" and "forced assimilation" is incompatible with the values of the European Union and the international laws protecting minorities.
Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai
said the law violates the words and the spirit of several bilateral and international agreements. He said Slovak politicians "do nationalism for a living" and he suspects the minority issues are getting into the foreground in Slovakia "to cover real problems".
Péter Balázs
, Foreign Minister of Hungary, told Die Presse
that Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister, is "unfortunately trying to get popularity by cheap means".
According to Balázs, the real reason for the language law is gaining voters for the parliamentary elections of next year in Slovakia, by "playing the 'Hungarian card'", and sees the issue as "part of a little political game". He also stated that regarding the bilateral relations, he doesn't expect much from Robert Fico any more. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Balázs
compared the creation of the language law to the politics of the Ceauşescu
regime on the use of language.
All four parties of the Parliament of Hungary (MSZP, Fidesz
, KDNP, SZDSZ) issued a joint declaration asking Slovakia to repel the legislation.
Viktor Orbán
, chairman of Hungary's opposition Fidesz
and a former Prime Minister (1998-2002), said no 20th century country "would have allowed themselves" such regulations, and called it an "absurdity" that Slovaks do it at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Orbán added that not only democracies "but also mentally sound regimes" would not have tried creating such regulations, or "at least not without the risk of being ridiculed".
Former Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány
also condemned the law in his blog
, calling it an "outrage", and stated that there can be "no explanation or excuse" to make it acceptable:
Lajos Bokros
, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former Hungarian Minister of Finance, condemned the law in a letter stating that Hungarians in Slovakia "want to get along on their homeland", and reminded Slovakia's MEPs that the Hungarian minority did a great contribution to Slovakia joining the European Union and the Eurozone
.
Hungarian radical right-wing party Jobbik organized a half-road block demonstration on the border in Komárom, stating that "the issue is no longer an internal affair of Slovakia, but an issue of European level". Chairman Gábor Vona
called the law "the shame of Europe", by which Slovakia "goes beyond the frameworks of democracy", he called the Slovak politics "aggressive and racist".
Vona urged peace between Hungary and Slovakia as he fears there will be a laughing third who profits from the conflicts, naming globalization
as a common enemy of the two nations.
published a Statement on the Amendment of the Slovak Language Law, and it has been signed by many people from around the world, including linguists
such as Noam Chomsky
, Peter Trudgill
, Bernard Comrie
, Ian Roberts
, and Ruth Wodak
.
The Ethnic-National Minority Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
analyzed the law and found that "in the interest of protecting and supporting the mother tongue, the Slovak legislature's law amendment violates several basic rights the protection of which is in any case required by international legal obligations". The institute brought an example of a fireman helping an escaping person who does not speak Slovak, and is forced to only reply in Slovak, according to their analysis of the law.
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Knut Vollebæk, reviewed the law and issued a report in which he concluded that:
He also stated that the law itself does not violate any international standards or obligations of the Slovak Republic; it is more the perception of the newly enacted possible financial penalisation that can exacerbate the already present tensions. He also called for a very reserved application of the penalisation clause.
The Party of the Hungarian Coalition (MKP
) asked the Slovak Government to release communication exchanged between them and Vollebæk so that the opinion of Vollebæk regarding the law could not be misrepresented or distorted. According to the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs the report was released unchanged and in full. Spokesman Peter Stano stated: "It is obvious that the Party of the Hungarian Coalition
was unable to question the reliability of Vollebæk report, that law is following the legitimate goal and it's in accordance with all international norms." Vollebaek will monitor the situation until the law on minority language use will reach the level of the state language law in Slovakia.
are reluctant to comment on the amendment, as the issue is highly politicised. In their opinion, however, aside from the fines, the law introduces only minor changes to the wording previously enacted.
, said the issue was beyond being simply an affair between Slovakia and Hungary and was becoming an issue of the whole European Union because it harms the spirit of European integration and the principles of democracy. However, he said "we need to study it thoroughly in order to find out whether the legal framework has been violated".
Michael Gahler
, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, also criticized the act, saying Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his coalition partners "have yet neither mentally nor politically arrived in Europe". Gahler stated that Slovakia is violating "commonly respected standards in the EU" and is disregarding the recommendations of the Council of Europe, "which foresee the extended use of minority languages". According to Gahler, Slovakia risks discrediting itself as an EU member and could again become a "totalitarian state" if the new provisions are consistently applied. He suggested that a "modern and open Slovakia communicating and cooperating closely with its neighbours" would be better both for the country and its citizens; however, he does not expect this from the present Slovak government coalition.
(FUEN), "a language law which makes it a punishable offence to use a language does not belong on the statute books of a European country". He said this law is "totally absurd" and "insane".
FUEN published an article titled "The right to one's own native language – the language law in Slovakia" in which Hansen is quoted as arguing that the authors of the law made their "first main error in reasoning" by failing to realize that "Hungarian is not a foreign language in Slovakia, but the native language of around 500,000 Hungarian-speaking citizens". According to Hansen, Slovakia must protect and promote the native language of all its citizens, also of its Hungarian-speaking citizens.
Hansen recommended examination of a good example of minority treatment, that of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. He promised that FUEN will speak in Brussels about the issue of the law.
Petőcz thinks some politicians in the government are "clearly nationalist and anti-Hungarian", however he sees most of the government as "just populist", who try to find "any 'enemy' to pick on and use that to win votes".
László Ollós, a political analyst of the same institute, criticized the law for being too ambiguous, in order "to give as much power as possible to bureaucrats, so that they alone can decide when to apply the law and when not to".
against the law. The BBC gives the number of protesters as around 10,000, but the Slovak paper Pravda cites only 6,000. The event was attended by several hundred extremists, mostly Hungarian nationals, who expressed their vocal support for a territorial autonomy and chanted "Death to Trianon
". These were not addressed directly nor denounced ex post by the organizing party of SMK and its leader Pál Csaky. The attendees also claimed that they were "not protesting against Slovaks in general, they were protesting the fact, that they have no rights whatsoever as a national minority". All the major Slovak political parties denounced the meeting as counterproductive feat, that will only exacerbate the tension.
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
fixes the status and regulates the use of the Slovak language
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
. It took force in 1995 and underwent a major amendment in 2009.
The 2009 amendment has been severely criticized by Hungarians in Slovakia
Hungarians in Slovakia
Hungarians in Slovakia are the largest ethnic minority of the country, numbering 520,528 people or 9.7% of population . They are concentrated mostly in the southern part of the country, near the border with Hungary...
, as well as the government, civil organizations and general public of neighboring Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, for being discriminatory toward Hungarians and their rights to use their Hungarian language
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
. The controversy about the law is one of the key points in Hungary–Slovakia relations
Hungary–Slovakia relations
Hungary–Slovakia relations are the foreign relations between the Republic of Hungary and the Slovak Republic, two neighbouring countries in Central Europe. The countries established diplomatic relations in 1993, the year when Slovakia became independent of Czechoslovakia. Hungary has an embassy in...
, brought to their lowest point for many years.
Representatives of other minorities living in Slovakia have raised no objections to the amendment.
The law declares priority for the Slovak language over any other language spoken in Slovakia, as it claims the Slovak language is "an articulation of sovereignty of the Slovak Republic". The law names several circumstances of public and official situations, in which — e.g. doctors (although all medical personnel are exempt from the financial sanctions) — the use of the Slovak language should take precedence both in written and spoken form. Despite this, the law does not apply for the Czech language, which can be used in any circumstance and occasion whatsoever, as Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible.
The 2009 modifications include issuing penalties of 100 to 5000 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s for not using Slovak when prescribed by the law despite repeated written notice.
1990
The first law about language use was made in 1990, when Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia. In communities having at least a 20% minority population, the minority language could be (and was) used in all official communications.1995
In 1993, Czechoslovakia dissolved into the Czech RepublicCzech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and Slovakia. The Slovak National Party and its cultural organization Matica Slovenska
Matica slovenská
The Matica slovenská Mother) is Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation. It is based in the city of Martin...
urged the creation of laws to "protect" the state language. The modifications (called "language law without exceptions") of 1995 contained punishments for not using Slovak in official communication, regardless of the percentage of the minority in the area. This was later shown to violate the constitution of Slovakia and was abolished by the Constitutional Court.The new 1995 law vacates the earlier \isbn=9780805840544|pages=303}} It constitutes an interesting irony, that while the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
is busily engaged in promoting linguistic diversity, a few nations are still trying to create an environment in which the nation-state is defined in terms of linguistic homogeneity.
1999
For the accession of Slovakia to the European Union, Slovakia had to accept a law on minority language use. This was created in 1999, and allowed use of minority languages in public situations (such as hospitals) in areasat least 20% minority.
Controversial modification of the law in 2009
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
. Use of a non-state language when conducting business could carry a financial penalty. Similarly, a penalty could be given for publishing books, journals or scientific proceeding in a language other than Slovak, or for singing in public in languages other than Slovak or the song's original language.
Opponents have described the law as one that "criminalises the use of Hungarian", however according to the Slovak government the law itself doesn't interfere with use of minority languages.
Criticism in Hungary
Gordon BajnaiGordon Bajnai
György Gordon Bajnai was the seventh Prime Minister of Hungary from 2009 to 2010. In March 2009, following Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's announced resignation, Bajnai was nominated by the ruling MSZP party to become Hungary's next prime minister...
, the Hungarian Prime Minister, has charged Slovakia of scapegoating Hungarian speakers. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Balázs
Péter Balázs
Péter Balázs is a Hungarian politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, born in Kecskemét, 1941. In addition to his native Hungarian, he also speaks English, French, German and Russian....
compared the creation of the language law to the politics of the Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
regime on the use of language. Hungarian newspaper Budapest Times has questioned the dual standards for use the Czech language
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
in Slovakia, however this charge ignores the mutual intelligibility
Mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand each other without intentional study or extraordinary effort...
between Czech and Slovak, which render them compatible in business and law.
President of Hungary László Sólyom
László Sólyom
László Sólyom is a Hungarian political figure, lawyer, and librarian who was President of Hungary from 2005 to 2010. Previously he was President of the Constitutional Court of Hungary from 1990 to 1998....
expressed his worries about the law, because according to him the law violates "the spirit and at some places the word" of several bi- and multilateral agreements, and its perceived philosophy of "converting a multi-ethnic state to homogenous nation state" and "forced assimilation" is incompatible with the values of the European Union and the international laws protecting minorities.
Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai
Gordon Bajnai
György Gordon Bajnai was the seventh Prime Minister of Hungary from 2009 to 2010. In March 2009, following Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's announced resignation, Bajnai was nominated by the ruling MSZP party to become Hungary's next prime minister...
said the law violates the words and the spirit of several bilateral and international agreements. He said Slovak politicians "do nationalism for a living" and he suspects the minority issues are getting into the foreground in Slovakia "to cover real problems".
Péter Balázs
Péter Balázs
Péter Balázs is a Hungarian politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, born in Kecskemét, 1941. In addition to his native Hungarian, he also speaks English, French, German and Russian....
, Foreign Minister of Hungary, told Die Presse
Die Presse
Die Presse is an Austrian daily newspaper based in Vienna. It was founded in 1946 by World War II resistance fighter Ernst Molden and stands in tradition of the Viennese newspapers "Die Presse" and "Neue Freie Presse" . The paper covers general news topics...
that Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister, is "unfortunately trying to get popularity by cheap means".
According to Balázs, the real reason for the language law is gaining voters for the parliamentary elections of next year in Slovakia, by "playing the 'Hungarian card'", and sees the issue as "part of a little political game". He also stated that regarding the bilateral relations, he doesn't expect much from Robert Fico any more. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Balázs
Péter Balázs
Péter Balázs is a Hungarian politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, born in Kecskemét, 1941. In addition to his native Hungarian, he also speaks English, French, German and Russian....
compared the creation of the language law to the politics of the Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
regime on the use of language.
All four parties of the Parliament of Hungary (MSZP, Fidesz
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union
The Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union is a major conservative party in Hungary. At the 2010 election in Hungary, Fidesz-KDNP won a two-thirds majority of seats by gaining 52% of the votes, with Fidesz winning 227 seats and KDNP winning 36...
, KDNP, SZDSZ) issued a joint declaration asking Slovakia to repel the legislation.
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán is a Hungarian populist and conservative politician and current Prime Minister of Hungary...
, chairman of Hungary's opposition Fidesz
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union
The Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union is a major conservative party in Hungary. At the 2010 election in Hungary, Fidesz-KDNP won a two-thirds majority of seats by gaining 52% of the votes, with Fidesz winning 227 seats and KDNP winning 36...
and a former Prime Minister (1998-2002), said no 20th century country "would have allowed themselves" such regulations, and called it an "absurdity" that Slovaks do it at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Orbán added that not only democracies "but also mentally sound regimes" would not have tried creating such regulations, or "at least not without the risk of being ridiculed".
Former Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány
Ferenc Gyurcsány
Ferenc Gyurcsány is a Hungarian politician. He was the sixth Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009.He was nominated to take that position on 25 August 2004 by the Hungarian Socialist Party , after Péter Medgyessy resigned due to a conflict with the Socialist Party's coalition partner...
also condemned the law in his blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, calling it an "outrage", and stated that there can be "no explanation or excuse" to make it acceptable:
Lajos Bokros
Lajos Bokros
Lajos András Bokros is a Hungarian economist and Member of the European Parliament for Hungary.Bokros was born in Budapest. He graduated from and holds a Ph.D. from the Budapest University of Economics....
, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former Hungarian Minister of Finance, condemned the law in a letter stating that Hungarians in Slovakia "want to get along on their homeland", and reminded Slovakia's MEPs that the Hungarian minority did a great contribution to Slovakia joining the European Union and the Eurozone
Eurozone
The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...
.
Hungarian radical right-wing party Jobbik organized a half-road block demonstration on the border in Komárom, stating that "the issue is no longer an internal affair of Slovakia, but an issue of European level". Chairman Gábor Vona
Gábor Vona
Gábor Vona is a Hungarian politician and the leader of the Hungarian nationalist political party Jobbik. He was born on 20 August 1978 in Gyöngyös...
called the law "the shame of Europe", by which Slovakia "goes beyond the frameworks of democracy", he called the Slovak politics "aggressive and racist".
Vona urged peace between Hungary and Slovakia as he fears there will be a laughing third who profits from the conflicts, naming globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
as a common enemy of the two nations.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of SciencesResearch Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was created in 1949, is under supervision of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 1951...
published a Statement on the Amendment of the Slovak Language Law, and it has been signed by many people from around the world, including linguists
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
such as Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Peter Trudgill
Peter Trudgill
Professor Peter Trudgill FBA is a sociolinguist, academic and author.He was born in 1943 in Norwich, England, where he attended the City of Norwich School from 1955....
, Bernard Comrie
Bernard Comrie
Bernard Comrie is a British-born linguist. Comrie is a specialist in linguistic typology and linguistic universals, and on Caucasian languages....
, Ian Roberts
Ian Roberts (linguist)
Ian G. Roberts is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Downing College, Cambridge....
, and Ruth Wodak
Ruth Wodak
Ruth Wodak is Distinguished Professor and Chair in Discourse Studies at Lancaster University. She moved from Vienna, Austria, where she was full professor of Applied Linguistics since 1991...
.
The Ethnic-National Minority Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
analyzed the law and found that "in the interest of protecting and supporting the mother tongue, the Slovak legislature's law amendment violates several basic rights the protection of which is in any case required by international legal obligations". The institute brought an example of a fireman helping an escaping person who does not speak Slovak, and is forced to only reply in Slovak, according to their analysis of the law.
OSCE
He also stated that the law itself does not violate any international standards or obligations of the Slovak Republic; it is more the perception of the newly enacted possible financial penalisation that can exacerbate the already present tensions. He also called for a very reserved application of the penalisation clause.
The Party of the Hungarian Coalition (MKP
Party of the Hungarian Coalition
The Party of the Hungarian Coalition, officially registered under the compound name Strana maďarskej koalície – Magyar Koalíció Pártja, is a political party in Slovakia, for the ethnic Hungarian minority...
) asked the Slovak Government to release communication exchanged between them and Vollebæk so that the opinion of Vollebæk regarding the law could not be misrepresented or distorted. According to the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs the report was released unchanged and in full. Spokesman Peter Stano stated: "It is obvious that the Party of the Hungarian Coalition
Party of the Hungarian Coalition
The Party of the Hungarian Coalition, officially registered under the compound name Strana maďarskej koalície – Magyar Koalíció Pártja, is a political party in Slovakia, for the ethnic Hungarian minority...
was unable to question the reliability of Vollebæk report, that law is following the legitimate goal and it's in accordance with all international norms." Vollebaek will monitor the situation until the law on minority language use will reach the level of the state language law in Slovakia.
Slovak Academy of Sciences
Slovak linguists from the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics of the Slovak Academy of SciencesSlovak Academy of Sciences
The Slovak Academy of Sciences SAV is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research...
are reluctant to comment on the amendment, as the issue is highly politicised. In their opinion, however, aside from the fines, the law introduces only minor changes to the wording previously enacted.
European Parliament (EP)
According to the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL), the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy BuzekJerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001...
, said the issue was beyond being simply an affair between Slovakia and Hungary and was becoming an issue of the whole European Union because it harms the spirit of European integration and the principles of democracy. However, he said "we need to study it thoroughly in order to find out whether the legal framework has been violated".
Michael Gahler
Michael Gahler
Michael Gahler is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament for Hesse. He is a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party....
, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, also criticized the act, saying Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his coalition partners "have yet neither mentally nor politically arrived in Europe". Gahler stated that Slovakia is violating "commonly respected standards in the EU" and is disregarding the recommendations of the Council of Europe, "which foresee the extended use of minority languages". According to Gahler, Slovakia risks discrediting itself as an EU member and could again become a "totalitarian state" if the new provisions are consistently applied. He suggested that a "modern and open Slovakia communicating and cooperating closely with its neighbours" would be better both for the country and its citizens; however, he does not expect this from the present Slovak government coalition.
Federal Union of European Nationalities
According to Hans Heinrich Hansen, president of the Federal Union of European NationalitiesFederal Union of European Nationalities
The Federal Union of European Nationalities is an international nongovernmental organization established in 1949 in conjunction with the formation of the Council of Europe. As of 2007, there were 84 member organizations representing ethnic, linguistic and national minorities within Europe...
(FUEN), "a language law which makes it a punishable offence to use a language does not belong on the statute books of a European country". He said this law is "totally absurd" and "insane".
FUEN published an article titled "The right to one's own native language – the language law in Slovakia" in which Hansen is quoted as arguing that the authors of the law made their "first main error in reasoning" by failing to realize that "Hungarian is not a foreign language in Slovakia, but the native language of around 500,000 Hungarian-speaking citizens". According to Hansen, Slovakia must protect and promote the native language of all its citizens, also of its Hungarian-speaking citizens.
Hansen recommended examination of a good example of minority treatment, that of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. He promised that FUEN will speak in Brussels about the issue of the law.
Forum Minority Research Institute
Kálmán Petőcz of the independent Forum Minority Research Institute in Slovakia told IPS that the law "could be seen as an expression of the superiority of Slovaks over all other nationalities in Slovakia". He said it only serves to worsen the everyday relations between Slovaks and ethnic Hungarians, and also quoted research "showing that many young Slovak schoolchildren have prejudiced attitudes towards their Hungarian counterparts".Petőcz thinks some politicians in the government are "clearly nationalist and anti-Hungarian", however he sees most of the government as "just populist", who try to find "any 'enemy' to pick on and use that to win votes".
László Ollós, a political analyst of the same institute, criticized the law for being too ambiguous, in order "to give as much power as possible to bureaucrats, so that they alone can decide when to apply the law and when not to".
Demonstrations
On September 1, ethnic Hungarians of Slovakia held a demonstration in the stadium of Dunajská StredaDunajská Streda
Dunajská Streda is a town in southern Slovakia . Dunajská Streda is the most important town of the Žitný ostrov region. It has a Hungarian ethnic majority and its population is 23,562 -Name:...
against the law. The BBC gives the number of protesters as around 10,000, but the Slovak paper Pravda cites only 6,000. The event was attended by several hundred extremists, mostly Hungarian nationals, who expressed their vocal support for a territorial autonomy and chanted "Death to Trianon
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...
". These were not addressed directly nor denounced ex post by the organizing party of SMK and its leader Pál Csaky. The attendees also claimed that they were "not protesting against Slovaks in general, they were protesting the fact, that they have no rights whatsoever as a national minority". All the major Slovak political parties denounced the meeting as counterproductive feat, that will only exacerbate the tension.
External links
- State language law of 1995
- Unofficial English translation of the amendments of 2009
- The language law after the 2009 amendments
- Principles of Slovak government for implementation of the law, 2009
- Daftary F., Gál K. Study: The new Slovak language law: Internal of external politics? Flensburg: ECMI, September, 2000. ECMI Working Paper No. 8. ISSN 1435-9812
- Opinion on the Act on the State Language of the Slovak Republic Venice CommissionVenice CommissionThe Venice Commission is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall, at a time of urgent need for constitutional assistance in Central and Eastern Europe...
, 2010