BRATISLAVA, April 17, (WEBNOVINY) – Former head of the non-parliamentary Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) and newly elected member of the party’s leadership Pal Csaky does not want to say whether he applied for the Hungarian citizenship. “The Hungarian law handles it very elegantly. It gives everyone a possibility to decide, everyone can personally decide whether he/she will do it or not. And it is up to the person and to Hungarian authorities whether they will do it, or not. So I follow this idea,” Csaky told SITA news agency. He went on to say that a lot of people have asked him how to act in this situation and he tells everyone that certain patience and reserve in this matter is recommendable . “As long as there are paranoid ways of resolving this issue in Slovakia, certain caution in the matter is in place,” he stated.
Csaky feels to be a conscious citizen of the Slovak Republic, Hungarian by ethnic origin and a European citizen. “Everyone labels a person who attacks the rights of others a nationalist. I have never attacked other people’s rights; I have never spoken negatively about others. I have defended the rights of my own community and myself,” he said in connection with some opponents labeling him a Hungarian nationalist.
According to Pal Csaky, Slovak politics is not prepared for generosity toward minorities. „It is not an expression of maturity or self-confidence. Slovak politics and its society do not have generosity within them in this area. In other words, minorities do not pose a risk to any society, in actual democracy they can represent enrichment to the society. Which one of us can say he is true-born this or that; we have been mixed here by centuries and history, while everyone’s right to identify with any minority should be respected, or when they want to present their double or triple ties, why not? This means that if someone feels to be a Slovak and a Roma, or a Roma and Hungarian, this double tie should perhaps be respected, too,” Csaky stated. Therefore, double bonds should be officially recognized, while they do not oppose each other, but rather add up to each other. We all have a secondary citizenship here, too, the EU citizenship, Csaky concluded.
In line with the latest Hungarian amendment to the citizenship law, everyone with ancestors from Hungary speaking Hungarian can receive Hungarian citizenship.
SITA