Two types of Hungarians

On June 19, the Hungarian Parliament accepted the Law on Hungarians in Neighboring Countries, popularly called the Law on Status. Hungarian parties seem to show a sense of unanimity when it comes to national issues, including anything related to Hungarians in neighboring countries. The government's proposal, despite some criticism from the opposition Hungarian Socialist Party, met with general agreement in the country's highest legislative body, as 92 percent of the deputies present voted for the Law on Status, while only the deputies of the Union of Free Democrats, who did not reject it in principle, were against it. but they did not agree on the way to support Hungarians in neighboring countries.

The Status Law aims to enable the provision of assistance to Hungarians in neighboring countries in preserving their culture, as well as improving their education, health and economic conditions. In addition, this regulation will allow them to work legally in Hungary for three months every year. This law is certainly some kind of interference in the internal affairs of neighboring countries, because according to expectations in Budapest, in the next few years, about 800.000 Hungarians from neighboring countries will ask for a "status Hungarian" identity card, and thus they will have a kind of dual citizenship, although so far this is literally it was never mentioned.

TYPE UNIFICATIONS: If, however, one looks at the other side of the coin, according to which the issue of national minorities cannot be an internal matter of any country, then Hungary can advocate for the improvement of the living conditions of its compatriots in neighboring countries, that is, for a kind of cultural unification of the nation.

Such an effort by Hungary caused the anger of its neighbors, primarily Romania and Slovakia, which is understandable given that the largest number of Hungarians live in those countries "on the other side" of the border. Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase announced through the Romanian press the cancellation of almost all bilateral agreements with Hungary, while Slovakian Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda noted that the Hungarian Status Law contradicts the legal norms of the European Union.

The Hungarian government made two serious mistakes in connection with the adoption of the Law on Status. She conducted an exhaustive discussion on the details of that law only with representatives of Hungarians from neighboring countries, and did not have detailed consultations with the governments of neighboring countries. Because of this approach to the issue, the Budapest government has taken it upon itself to speculate and accuse that it is a Hungarian-Hungarian conspiracy, although in Hungary no one intelligent believes in such stories, nor, of course, is there any will for any kind of conspiracy. Therefore, the accusations from the Romanian and Slovak sides are only "selling fog in sunny weather", but they can also be a reason for attacks on the Hungarian national communities in those countries, so the price of the gift received from Budapest will have to be paid by those who so far paid for the misunderstanding between minority and majority people.

The second mistake of the Hungarian government is not so much in the Status Law, but in the attitude towards minorities in Hungary. Local minorities are not oppressed, but they are not sufficiently involved in the political currents of the country either. It can be said that the Hungarian government uses double standards, because on the one hand it wants to provide the best possible living conditions for Hungarians in neighboring countries, which is understandable, and on the other hand, it makes omissions when it comes to minorities and their rights in Hungary, which is incomprehensible. . After the system change, no Hungarian government and no Hungarian parliament was able to write and accept a law or change the law that would allow minorities in Hungary to have their representatives in the country's highest legislative body.

MALO OK, MALO NE OK: When it comes to double standards, the governments in Bratislava and Bucharest are no exception. Slovakian and Romanian officials are protesting today against something they already have since yesterday. On July 15, 1998, the Romanian Parliament adopted the Law on Support of Romanian Communities Outside the Country, on the basis of which special funds can be created for the financial aid of schools of the Romanian teaching language abroad, and material support can also be given to Romanian cultural and artistic societies outside Romania. . According to that law, in some cases there is also the possibility to finance medical care for foreign citizens of Romanian nationality. Since the middle of March, in eight counties of eastern Romania, Moldovan citizens could submit applications for the return of Romanian citizenship, which caused great indignation in Chisinau as well.

Slovakia has a similar law, which was adopted on February 14, 1997 during the Mečiar government. Slovak law provides for the issuance of a "status identity card" to Slovaks from abroad who have reached the age of 15, and the application for the issuance of such a document can be submitted at Slovak embassies. According to that law, Slovaks from abroad with a "status Slovak" ID card have the same rights as all Slovak citizens in the country's secondary, higher and higher education institutions, and they can be legally employed in Slovakia without time limits. According to Hungarian data, about 200 Slovaks from Hungary received such an identity card.

Hungary did not complain either in the case of the adoption of the Slovak, or in the case of the acceptance of the Romanian law on status. To be honest, those laws were not aimed at Hungary, but primarily at Moldova and the Czech Republic. According to Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, the Hungarian Status Law is not in accordance with the legal norms of the European Union and therefore will not apply to Slovakia, which is expected to enter the EU together with Hungary. This confirms that, at the request of Brussels, Hungary has already omitted the Hungarians from Austria from the current version, therefore the Law on Status cannot be valid even now for a country that is a member of the European Union. If this practice remains, then the Law on Hungarians will only apply to Hungarians living in a country that is not a member of integrated Europe, and this means that there will be two types of Hungarians in the neighborhood, those of "higher status" and those of "less status". In that case, the purpose of this law will only be to support those Hungarians who remained outside the European Union, but even that is not small.