Extra time of the Hungarian-Slovak

"It's an absurd situation when anti-Hungarian Slovak extremists and Slovak-hating Hungarian radicals become the closest allies of each other and get a grip on the two nations' relations," Hungarian Parliament's Foreign Committee chairman Mátyás Eörsi said on Monday (Nov 17) in an unscheduled speech delivered to the Parliament in connection with the latest development of the Hungarian-Slovakian relations. Ethnic tensions between the two neighboring states have always been a key issue since the change of the regime, but while in other countries (such as Romania, Serbia or Ukraine) things appear to tend in the right direction, with a continuous thawing, the conflict between the Hungary and the Slovak Republic has now reached the highest circles of diplomacy, and the lowest level of standards. And that is despite both countries being members of the European Union.
The situation didn't look nice a year ago. The beating up of a Hungarian student, Hedvig Malina, suspectedly because she spoke Hungarian on her mobile in Slovakian Nyitra town in August, 2006, and especially the handling of her case by the Slovak authorities made it clear that certain tensions between the two countries will be difficult to overlook. Then came the case of the Benes-decrees (a Czech-Slovakian bill in effect since 1946, claiming collective responsibility of all Hungarians for the crimes of WWII). Hungarian officials asked their Slovakian peers to void the decree, but were turned down by them.

Bratislava visit

When Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico invited his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsány to Bratislava last year, Gyurcsány replied that certain issues would need to be resolved before an official meeting between the two premiers could take place. Now, slightly more than two weeks after the Dunaszerdahely incident (where Hungarian football fans were beaten up by Slovakian Policemen at a football match between Dunaszerdahely and Bratislava), the meeting did take place, the resolving of the issues in question, however, has never seemed further away.
Slovak authorities claim that there exists evidence (presumably a video recording), showing that the actions of the Slovak Police forces were justified and righteous, but they fail to show these video recordings to Hungarian officials. Hungarians, on the other hand, say that unless an evidence is unveiled, the only explanation they can find for the aggression on the Police’s behalf is that the football fans were Hungarians. Hungarian officials (including authorities, politicians and even the PM himself) have repeatedly asked the Slovaks to thoroughly investigate the case and publish the results of the procedure, whatever they would be. Slovaks seem to prefer to avoid the subject. Meanwhile both countries point fingers at each other's extremist groups, accusing the other with supporting nationalism, chauvinism and, occasionally, fascism.
Extremist groups are, indeed, part of the everyday headlines in both countries. The main difference is that, while the Hungarian government stands up against xenophobia (several government members attended anti-racist rallies throughout the summer), anti-Hungarian phrases have never been condemned by Slovak politicians. Furthermore, a lavish source of these anti-Hungarian statements is Jan Slota, who himself is a member of the government. Analysts, on the other hand warn that, this difference is barely visible from West Europe.
While the two premiers’ summit hasn't delivered substantial progress, it might be a good sign that, at least, a discussion has begun. Although opposition Fidesz party goes on repeating its mantra of Gyurcsány not representing the Hungarian interests effectively enough, one could have hardly expected any more from the meeting. “It's a good thing that Gyurcsány didn't go for victory in Slovakia last Sunday,” opined Eörsi in his speech. “Because if Gyurcsány had won, ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia would have to pay the price of the victory,” he added.
And based on the previous experiences of Hungarian-Slovakian enmities, we fear that he is right in this one.