Tensions between Hungary and Slovakia have flared anew following Hungary’s recent election, as newly victorious leader Peter Magyar challenged Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico over laws affecting ethnic Hungarian communities during their inaugural phone conversation on April 21.
The controversy revolves around post-war legislation that imposed collective punishment on ethnic Germans and Hungarians in former Czechoslovakia, stripping them of property and citizenship for alleged wartime collaboration.
These historical measures, known as the “Benes Decrees” after former Czechoslovak President Edvard Benes, regularly strain diplomatic ties between the two European Union member states. Ethnic Hungarians comprise approximately 9% of Slovakia’s 5.5 million residents.
Fico’s leftist-nationalist administration strengthened enforcement of these decrees last year, establishing criminal penalties for anyone who challenges their validity.
While Hungary’s departing leader Viktor Orban, who maintained close ties with Fico, avoided confronting this issue, Magyar made it a central campaign theme leading to his overwhelming electoral triumph on April 12.
During Tuesday’s conversation, Magyar maintained his campaign stance and delivered an ultimatum to the Slovak leader.
“I told him clearly that we would be able to negotiate on any policy issue if we received a guarantee that Slovakia would repeal the legislation that threatens Hungarians living in Slovakia with imprisonment,” Magyar told Fico.
“And if it was stipulated that in the future the lands of our Hungarian compatriots in Slovakia would not be confiscated on the basis of the Benes Decrees based on collective guilt.”
Fico responded by emphasizing that bilateral relations had remained stable for years and expressed his preference to concentrate on energy collaboration instead.
Both nations maintain their dependence on Russian energy supplies and have united in their disagreement with Ukraine regarding a damaged Soviet-era oil pipeline.
“It clearly emerged from the discussion that Peter Magyar’s priority in Slovak-Hungarian relations are, and will be, the Benes Decrees, where we have fundamentally differing positions,” Fico stated.
The Slovak prime minister, who had supported Orban in Hungary’s recent election, indicated he would arrange to meet Magyar during upcoming EU summit meetings in Brussels before considering any bilateral diplomatic visits.
Magyar is anticipated to establish his new Hungarian administration by mid-May.
