"As far as Felvidék is concerned, I can say that we should unite. Now it seems that something is happening there, because every Hungarian who lives in an annexed area must understand that if they do not help themselves, the motherland cannot help either. Moreover, let alone the motherland, neither does the Good Lord. So, first you have to do everything yourself to help your own destiny. And this is called a coalition in politics. If there is cooperation, then there will be great success in the Highlands as well," said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his speech in Tusnádfürdő this year.
hirado.hu looked into how unified Hungarian politics in the highlands was during the Slovak government crisis, which could be a breaking point for the Hungarian party .
We already have the unit on paper
If the early parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia this weekend, the Hungarian Alliance party led by Krisztián Forró would most likely not get into the institution of people's representation - we learned from Zsolt Kolek.
According to the journalist of the Ma7 in the Highlands, the pollsters are currently measuring the formation below the entrance threshold.
Fortunately, our neighbors are not yet there to elect a new parliament on Sunday, but the Hungarian party is running out of time to achieve a breakthrough. The Slovak Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party led by Richard Sulík gave an ultimatum to the other major party of the government coalition, the Simple People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) movement, until August 31 to remove former Prime Minister Igor Matovic, the current Minister of Finance of Slovakia, from the government. The Sulík threaten to withdraw from the coalition if OLaNO does not fulfill their demands. However, OLaNO does not allow it, in fact, their representatives have firmly stated that they insist on Matovich. According to the latest news, Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) called the government parties to a meeting on the future of the government coalition for the weekend of August 20, but there is no sign that either party has changed their mind.
Currently, there is no Hungarian party in the Slovak parliament, the previous election was in 2020, with the merger of the largest Hungarian upland (more precisely, representing Hungarians and Slovaks living with Hungarians) formation, the Hungarian Community Party (MKP), Most-Híd, and the Unity movement it was only created last October.
Crisis, tactics, principled differences, personal conflicts
The Slovak government crisis was coded in advance, since the parties of the coalition have radically different opinions on some issues. These contradictions intensified with the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian wars, the increase in energy prices, and the stagnation of inflation. In the SaS, which adheres to strongly pro-market, neoliberal economic policy principles, it was very hard for them when Matovic managed to get a social package approved by the parliament without them. In addition, the finance minister also wants to implement a tax reform, which would actually mean a tax increase. The Sulís, who believe in a small state and low taxes, would also not take kindly to this.
If the SaS were to leave the coalition, it could also be for a tactical reason: they do not want to give their name to the unpopular decisions of the next period, because the crisis will not escape our northern neighbor, it is already clear from the planned tax reform that cuts can be expected.
On top of everything, the government coalition is also moaning about an old personal conflict. Matovic did not start his political career by founding OLaNO. In the early 2010s, he was still active in Sulík's party. According to Zsolt Kolek, the rivalry between the two can be traced back to this, because even then they wanted something completely different. The constant conflict ended for a while when Matovic founded his own party, but the two politicians were forced to cooperate again in the coalition government formed after 2020.
In addition, Sulík had a problem with the finance portfolio from the beginning, which was first given to OLaNO's Eduard Heger. It is known that Heger is now the prime minister of Slovakia, after changing places with the old rival of the president of SaS, so Matovic now holds the position and the power that goes with it, which Sulík should also have.
One third of Hungarians voted for the Slovak party
„By not including the Hungarian epithet in the name of the party, they made many people unsure. They emphatically claim that they are a Hungarian party, but they call themselves Szövetsé-Aliancia. The reason behind this is that Most-Híd, which was more of a Slovak-Hungarian mixed party, was wary of having the adjective "Hungarian" in its name. However, the voters were once again confused ”
Zsolt Kolek explained.
As he explained, this is also a big problem because the last time a third of Hungarians voted for the Slovak party. Although Matovic lost a lot of his popularity, more Slovak supporters left him than Hungarian ones.
„The main reason for this is that the most active Hungarian voters profess conservative values, and Matovic often tries to copy Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. And the Association has not yet found an alternative to this ”
he thought.
It is also important to mention the name of György Gyimesi, who, as an OLaNO politician, appeals to many Hungarians, mainly by standing up for Viktor Orbán and Hungary.
"There is potential in this party, but it has not yet been exploited"
László Gubík, the founding director of the Esterházy Academy in the highlands, added to this and pointed out that today the liberal Progressive Slovakia party also has a Hungarian platform. In addition, it should not be forgotten that not all the Hungarian parties in the highlands united last year, as there is also the Hungarian Forum, which is led by former member of parliament Zsolt Simon.
„The party merger took place, but the support of the predecessor parties did not come together for the time being, since then the Alliance would achieve results of over five percent in public opinion polls. In comparison, they are at the same place as where the independent MKP was, or not even there. There is potential in this party, but it has not yet been exploited ”
he explained.
According to László Gubík, the early election would be a great opportunity for the Hungarian party to show that it is capable of representing the entire Hungarian people in the highlands, but for this it would first have to organize its ranks. However, there is no clear communication regarding what ideologically a voter would support if they voted for the Alliance, so it is not possible to know for sure which parties they would be able to form a coalition with.
According to Gubík, the Association should pour clean water into the glass as soon as possible on these issues, so that the Hungarian votes do not flow even more in the direction of the Slovak parties.
The Association has recently found a case in which it can show that it is committed to the minority rights of Hungarians and that the Slovak parties are not suitable to represent the cause of Hungarians in the highlands. It happened that the Hungarian politician of OLaNO, György Gyimesi, voted to amend the media law, according to which Hungarian-language programs must be subtitled in Slovak. This means in practice that the live broadcast will be impossible in Hungarian.
Krisztián Forró, the national president of the Association, did not hesitate to make their position clear to the public: with the cooperation of a Hungarian politician from a Slovak party, they essentially made Hungarian television in Slovakia impossible.
Source: hirado.hu
MTI Photo: Zoltán Máthé
