BRATISLAVA, December 13, (WEBNOVINY) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who will be visiting Slovakia on Tuesday, will have a working lunch with senior officials of the non-parliamentary party SMK representing interests of Slovakia’s ethnic Hungarians. SMK Chairman Jozsef Berenyi told SITA that he and Gyula Bardos will meet with the Hungarian prime minister with whom they intend to talks about several pending issues. “We will tell him that we do not consider the latest changes to the State Language Act sufficient. Language rights are not reach even at the level from 2006″, stated Berenyi.
The SMK representatives will open also the dual citizenship issue at talks with Orban. “There exist promises, but we are waiting for concrete steps of the coalition. For now, the rule still applies that accepting Hungarian citizenship results in loss of the Slovak one. We want that the Slovak side to be urged from all sides to implement necessary changes“, he said. The SMK senior officials and Orban are also to discuss the blueprint of the law on use of languages of national minorities. “There are good elements but also big contradictions in the proposal. Also coalition parties are rather cautious regarding the draft,” he added.
Another topic on the agenda of the talks with the Hungarian prime minister will also be the SMK success in the November municipal elections. Since he was elected SMK chairman, Berenyi has already the fourth unofficial meeting with Orban on Tuesday.
The Hungarian prime minister however is not going to meet with representatives of the party MOST-HID, which was founded in 2009, after the former SMK leader Bela Bugar and his supporters split from the SMK being dissatisfied with practices of the party leadership. Unlike the SMK, the new party made it to parliament in June. MOST-HID Chairman Bela Bugar confirmed that they are not meeting with Orban, “If he decided not to meet us, it is his decision and we take it accordingly”, he said. According to Bugar, the Hungarian government must know that the only party which fights in the government for example for a better status of minorities in Slovakia is MOST-HID, as the SMK was left outside parliament. As he said, MOST-HID is the only party which is able to contribute to easing Slovak-Hungarian tensions. “We are willing to cooperation but only on condition that it will be a partner cooperation,” he added.
The Hungarian prime minister is touring EU countries before his country becomes EU president for the next six-month period as of January 1. He should talk with Prime Minister Iveta Radicova on up-to-date issues of the European agenda, cooperation of their countries within the EU, current political issues and bilateral topics as well.
SITA