The Hungarian Status Law and Slovak Acceptance
The Hungarian Status Law and Slovak Acceptance

Author(s): Osamu Ieda
Subject(s): Politics, International relations/trade, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: Hungarian status law; Slovak acceptance; regional integration;
Summary/Abstract: Three years have passed since the Hungarian Parliament established the highly controversial Status Law on June 19, 2001 under the initiation of the Orbán government. The law was barely accepted, or simply rejected by the neighbouring countries and the European community. The situation deteriorated further when the new Hungarian government (from 2002), led by the socialist party, rejected the compromise negotiated between the Orbán government and the Romanian government in December 2001. It was not until June 23, 2003 when the Hungarian Parliament could adopt the new Act on the amendment to the status law under the Medgyessy cabinet after long negotiations with the concerned partners. However, the fate of the status law remained unclear due to the on-going controversy between Hungary and Slovakia. As a result, Hungarian public opinion has maintained suspicion over the effectiveness of the status .law, which was officially rejected by the Slovakian government. The Hungarian media commented to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at a press conference just after the establishment of the amendment law in July 2003, that ‘This weekend we were informed that there was a neighbouring country, Slovakia, where the benefit law could not assist the Hungarian minorities.

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