Mr Chmel on the law amendment conceptions of the Slovak government

Mr Rudolf Chmel, the last ambassador of the former Czechoslovakia to Hungary had been working as a university professor for years. He is one of the founding members and vice-chairman of the political party Híd-Most led by Béla Bugár, and one and half month ago he was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights and Minorities in the new Slovak government. In the interview he declares how he sees the chances of the Slovak-Hungarian reconciliation.

 

   - These manifestations are just sabre-rattlings of the oppostion parties. As for me I would abolish the Act with much pleasure. In Slovakia the excessive enthusiasm concerning the state language is sort of expicable issue on the grounds of the country´s young statehoodness. But in Central Europe the language issue is a decisive element of the collective self concept, too. The spirit of romanticism is persistent and stubborn in our region, and Fico´s Act was also generated by it. Anyway, my Office will shortly prepare the Act on National Minority Languages wich regulates the use of language of indigenous minorities living in Slovakia. We try to put in an equal level the principle of the bilingualism or multilingualism in a broader sense and in more regards.

 

   - It has nothing to do with establishing an alibi but on grounds of political reality I have to add, that non of the ruling parties are in the situation to pass any draft smoothly. What is more, a party of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia doesn´t have opportunity to reach anything without convincing the majority nation not just only for the national ideals, but also for the sake of the parliamentary mathematics. This is why we all need patient discussions and efficient arguments.

 

   - One has to realize that during almost a century after the treaty of Trianon the ethnic Hungarians living in Czechoslovakia and latter in Slovakia formed a sort of double identity which can not be defined with the tools of the romantic national policy of the 19th century unable to offer authentic answer and realizable solutions. If a political party in Hungary doubts the identity of the Híd-Most it harms itself, not us, since with this approach could be diminished the real chances to solve the Hungarian historical grievance. We created a new model on the basis of our values. 

 

   - According the Híd-Most´s self definition we are a civic party enhancing the cooperation of Slovaks and Hungarians and other nations in Slovakia, respecting and treating each other as an equal. Híd-Most will not be overprotected neither by the Slovak political forces, or the Slovak government nor by a party or the administration in Hungary. For some politicians in Hungary it could be a huge dissapointment, they could even call us traitors. The thing is that we just imagine the state of affairs in our way. The Híd-Most is a sovereign political party. Our domestic, Hungarian and international relations are based on partnership. 

 

   - I am convinced that Híd-Most is much more familiar with the social, cultural, political interests and needs of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia than Fidesz. We have a realizable program for enhancing the national identity of this community. We are aware the situation of the Hungarian community in our country, and we adjust our program and strategy to the real life. Being authorised by the overwhelming majority of ethnic Hungarians and also by the Slovaks to reach our aims the Híd-Most has to create correct partnership in order to tackle our common issues rooted in historic frustrations and prejudices. Concluding this could also contribute to our economic cooperation and common representation of interests. Reading the essays of my Hungarian friends it´s clear to me that they also feel the contradictions of our world today, the differently distorted interpretations of the freedom. Meanwhile they also realise that the danger of the neo-nationalism is not just a paper tiger in our region at all.