“It is already difficult to get out of this situation without losing face,” writes the Slovakian Hungarian portal Ma7 in connection with the amendment of the language law. The media, which is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Hungarian government subsidies coming to Slovakia, applies this only to the minister of the Slovak National Party (SNS), who heads the Ministry of Culture, who initiated the draft law, Martina Šimkovičová and party president Andrej Danko, but the same is true of the Fico government as a whole, the prime minister himself and Orbán – also for the government.
Robert Fico’s three-party coalition formed last fall has 79 seats in the 150-member parliament, 10 of which belong to the nationalist far-right SNS. In other words, without the SNS, Fico does not have the necessary majority to govern. The nationalist anti-Hungarian SNS, founded by Jan Slota, which in the second half of the 2010s under the leadership of Andrej Danko tried to move to the center and become a stylish conservative party, has now returned to the party founder’s legacy. Šimkovičova, who is in charge of the culture ministry, has already come up with several scandalous draft laws, which created serious tensions within the coalition between HLAS and the SNS led by President Peter Pellegrini. (There are also tensions with Hlas due to scandals surrounding other government representatives of the far-right party.)
The SNS would not be able to cross the parliamentary threshold today, the fact that they are still members of the coalition clearly indicates that Fico cannot afford to fire them.
However, the “friendship” and support of Viktor Orbán Robert Fico is also referred to, as the European Union does not take kindly to his government’s illiberal steps, such as the judicial reform or the “transformation” of the public media. The government occupation of public media was also orchestrated by the Ministry of Culture led by Šimkovičova, doing the dirty work for Fico. For the time being, Fico is trying to strike a balance, he supports Orbán’s rhetoric against Ukraine and the EU at the level of communication, but so far he has not raised a veto on any issue, he has not hindered the united EU position, for example joint government meetings are held with Ukraine. If only because Pellegrini’s party entered the coalition on the condition that Slovakia’s foreign policy remains unchanged. Well, in the protection of EU funds.
At the same time, Orbán also needs Fico’s support in his war against “Brussels”.
We asked Konrád Rigó, who was the secretary of state for culture in the Fico government between 2016-2020 and, after its fall, the Pellegrini government, why the tightening of the language law came out of mothballs. According to the Híd-Most politician, SNS’s thrashing is behind it. Šimkovičová and her registrar, Machala, probably realized that they cannot create. The minister is so weak that they couldn’t even get money for their ideas from the state coffers. So they look for topics that people will turn their heads to. But they cause huge damage even if their plan fails. Nationalism is also a spirit that, if we let it out among people, it can easily whip up the mood, but it can take years or even decades to calm it down”, believes the former state secretary.
As Népszava also reported, Péter Szijjártó discussed the language law in Bratislava on Tuesday. The Hungarian Foreign Minister then said that he had received a guarantee from his negotiator, Speaker of the House Peter Žiga, that the amendment to the law would not affect the right of Hungarians in Slovakia to use their mother tongue. As he said, Žiga is his friend, his words are a sufficient guarantee for him. However, the adoption of the draft law, even in a relaxed version, would mean a step back, and in its current form, it recalls the darkest anti-Hungarian Mečiar times. Viktor Orbán and his government, which is now trying to keep the issue quiet, cannot afford to maintain cordial relations with Fico even in the event of the adoption of a relaxed version of the law, even in view of the 2026 elections.
The Bratislava leadership is preparing another anti-Hungarian law amendment, but the Orbán government, which is so bellicose against the Ukrainian language law, is looking out for its own interests rather than the interests of the Hungarians.
According to Hungarian opinion makers in Slovakia, Žiga’s guarantee is essentially equal to zero, the only solution would be to vote down the law or send it to the sink, but if the SNS insists on it, then Fico has no choice but to accept it without risking his government.
According to Konrád Rigó, “what Žiga said to Szíjjártó will not be authoritative, but what Fico will do. Otherwise, he could be convinced on minority issues – at least Híd managed to do so in several areas that year. Thanks to this, for example, the independent Minority Cultural Fund. Although the ruling party was the party of the Hungarians at the time and Fico is not the Fico he was then”, claims the Hungarian politician from Slovakia.
Robert Fico stated that as long as he is the prime minister of Slovakia, he will prevent Ukraine from becoming a NATO member
Although, like the Hungarian government, neither Fico nor Pellegrini has commented on the issue so far, Rigó Konrád believes that there is an opportunity to prevent the adoption of the law. As he said, “the more normal half of Hlas certainly does not want to bring back the Mečiar times and it is not in Fico’s interest either. Both parties have set their eyes on the Hungarian voters in Slovakia, and they still have serious support from the Hungarians. With this law, it is absolutely impossible to get more votes. So if they want, they can even stop the whole thing”.
In this case – we add – in the event of a possible early parliamentary election, Fico’s Smer party will need the votes of the Hungarians in Slovakia, which would mean the end of the Hungarian Alliance in the event that the Orbáns, like last year, help the campaign of Fico’s party.
Source: nepszava.hu
