BRATISLAVA, April 27, (WEBNOVINY) — Opposition party SMER-SD wants to have it confirmed in the Slovak Constitution that Slovakia only acknowledges individual, not collective rights, of national minorities. “European legislation does not recognize collective rights, but this concept is incorporated in the new Hungarian Constitution,“ said Deputy Chairman of SMER-SD Marek Madaric on Wednesday after a meeting of the shadow cabinet. This reaction of SMER-SD was provoked by the adoption of the new wording of the Hungarian Constitution.
Madaric is disappointed over how the Slovak government acts in relation to Hungary. “I am convinced that Mikulas Dzurinda and Iveta Radicova promised the Hungarian party that the Slovak government would not comment on the Hungarian Constitution,” Madaric accused chief government representatives. He opines that specifically the neighbor of a country that is heading towards an authoritarian regime should shout and warn aloud about what is going on in the neighboring country.
The exact wording of the suggested SMER-SD amendment to the constitution has not been released yet. Madaric said that it is now being fine-tuned and will be delivered to parliament by Friday, April 29 so that parliament can discuss it at its next session starting on May 17.
Revision to the constitution requires a three-fifths majority, which means that SMER-SD would also have to persuade coalition partners about correctness of its ideas. Madaric warned the Slovak government saying that it would be too late for declarations after the Hungarian President signed the new constitution and that the action is needed now. The new Hungarian Constitution stipulates that Hungary is responsible for the fate of Hungarians living abroad and would support their efforts for application of collective rights.
SMER-SD will also again submit its amendment to the law on the national citizenship to parliament. Party’s intention is to prevent all people who obtain other country’s citizenship from losing Slovak citizenship claiming that only people who become citizens of another country without actual relation to it, as the current wording of the Hungarian citizenship law allows, should have to return their Slovak passport. SMER-SD Chairman Robert Fico also called on the coalition on Wednesday not to exclude the threat of losing the citizenship from the law because it had proved to be an effective barrier against massive applications for Hungarian citizenship among ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia.
SITA