SLOVAKIA HAS recalled its ambassador to Budapest over its plans to help ethnic Hungarians living abroad to acquire citizenship.
The neighbouring states regularly clash over Slovakia’s treatment of ethnic Hungarians who comprise roughly 10 per cent of its 5.4 million population. Budapest protests against alleged discrimination and Bratislava complains about provocative actions by Hungarian nationalists.
Relations have been strained in recent months, after Slovakia banned the use of Hungarian in public offices. The ultra-nationalist Jobbik group polled strongly in Hungarian elections that were won by the centre-right Fidesz party, which has its own nationalist streak.
There has been fiery rhetoric from Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico and from the leader of the Slovak National Party (SNS), Jan Slota, his coalition partner, as they seek to boost their reputations as “patriotic” politicians before next month’s election.
“Without consulting Slovakia, Hungary wants to pass an act that will affect 500,000 Slovak citizens . . . aiming to strengthen their Hungarian identity. They must be joking,” said Mr Fico.
“If Hungary passes this act, Slovakia will view it as a security threat,” said the populist leader, whose decision to bring the SNS into government infuriated Budapest. “We will view this unilateral step as a violation of international law and the principle of a good neighbourly relationship.”
Hungary’s next foreign minister, Janos Martonyi, said the dual citizenship law would be one of the first to be passed by the incoming Fidesz government of Viktor Orban.
Mr Martonyi insisted the law was intended to rectify a current “discriminatory” situation, in which ethnic Hungarians living in countries neighbouring Hungary found it harder to acquire citizenship than those living in other parts of the world.
The status of ethnic Hungarians living outside the country’s borders is a major issue in Hungary, which was stripped of two-thirds of its territory after the first World War. More than three million ethnic Hungarians live in present-day Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and other countries.
“As the legislative amendment on dual citizenship should also concerns Slovak citizens, we’ve summoned our ambassador Peter Weiss from Budapest to Bratislava to analyse the situation,” a Slovak foreign ministry spokesman said.
Mr Slota, who once publicly fantasised about Slovak tanks driving through Budapest, called for a tougher response.
“It’s fine that we’ve recalled our ambassador from Budapest to Bratislava, but . . . we should also terminate the agreement on good neighbourly relations. The responses made by the new [Hungarian] government do not follow the objectives laid out in the agreement,” he said.
With an eye on the elections, Mr Slota also warned that the presence of Slovakia’s ethnic-Hungarian party in government would “be the beginning of the end of Slovakia’s sovereignty”. The Hungarians and the SNS both have 20 seats in Slovakia’s 150-seat parliament.