BRATISLAVA, May 1, (WEBNOVINY) — Without any fault of their own, ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia have become hostages in disputes between Slovakia and Hungary, says leader of the parliamentary faction of the MOST-HID party Laszlo Solymos. „I do not know why they use minorities as hostages in some political disputes, “ Solymos responded to a SITA news agency question as to how he perceives the effort of the Slovak opposition party SMER-SD to amend the Constitution of the Slovak Republic in response to the new Hungarian Constitution.
Solymos underlined that the Hungarian minority that lives in Slovakia pays taxes here and wants to feel comfortable here. „Any such hint of mistrust is very irritating and then the reaction of the minority looks accordingly,“ he explained. He is convinced that the effort of SMER-SD or other „hysterical“ reactions to recent developments in Hungary will in no way contribute to good relations between Hungarians and Slovaks.
Members of the opposition party SMER-SD are planning to submit to Parliament a draft amendment to the Constitution, in which they want an explicit provision specifying that Slovakia only respects individual rights and not collective rights. This should be in response to the new Hungarian Constitution, which stipulates that care for foreign Hungarians is the responsibility of their motherland and encourages them to apply their collective rights.
SITA