Regions, minorities and European integration: a case study on Hungarians in the Kosice region, Slovakia.

AuthorVilagi, Aneta

Abstract

The report presented a case of the influence of European integration on the political and socioeconomic status of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Based on the historical background and the analysis of empirical findings, we tried to test a set of hypotheses: a) the promotion of human rights and the protection of minorities emphasized in the process of EU enlargement reinforces the influence of the ethnic Hungarians political representation from two points of view: it empowers the political representation and it strengthens the negotiating position of the SMK in the promotion of minority interests; b) ethnicbased political representation reinforces divisions over regional territorial reforms and control over local government institutions along national-ethnic lines; c) regional economic and institutional resources transferred to subnational units in the context of the launch of EU cohesion policy reinforce a redefinition of minority-majority interests around economic development goals; d) there is a challenge to nationalism and for the minority the improvement of protection of its rights and the decrease of nationalism supported its better identification with Slovakia based on the citizenship principle.

Key words:

minority-majority interests, inter-communal cooperation, cross-border cooperation

  1. Introduction

    The border region of Kosice in the southeastern part of Slovakia is home to the most numerous and politically significant minority population of about 85,415 ethnic Hungarians, who inhabit the region together with the Slovak majority (1). The Kosice self-governing region (Kosicky samospravny kraj) is one of eight self-governing regions in Slovakia, and consists of 439 self-governing communities (2) (obec) from which 17 have the status of a town. Due to the dual model of territorial administration in Slovakia, the same area comprises both a state administration unit--the Kosice region (Kosicky kraj), and eleven territorial districts (Kosice I--IV, Kosice--okolie, Gelnica, Michalovce, Roznava, Spisska Nova Ves and Trebisov).

    The precise area inhabited by the Hungarian minority forms about a 50 km broad strip along the state border with Hungary. It is a territory with a troubled history, (3) which has fuelled many nationalistic passions. One of the reasons for the creation of these districts was to maintain ethnic Hungarians as a minority within them.

    The Hungarian minority in Slovakia has been a minority with a strong ethnic consciousness, common identity and culture from the very beginning of its minority status. As a part of the previous majority nation within the Austro--Hungarian Empire, the ethnic Hungarians were also very well politically mobilised. However, since the Benes decrees (4) were issued in August 1945 until 1987 (5) they had not been allowed to participate in public political life as representatives of the minority. With the political change of 1989, a new opportunity structure was created for the minority representatives so that the ethnic Hungarians' political parties had mushroomed until the strongest ones created a common platform--Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK) (6).

    Despite Slovakia's transition to democracy from 1989, the relationship of the Slovakian majority to the Hungarian minority deteriorated due to the entrance of the nationalistic coalition into government in 1992. After Slovak independence in 1993, the governmental policies were linked to nation-state building and national homogenisation. Due to that fact, the political claims of the Hungarian minority representatives were perceived by Slovak politicians, as well as by large segments of the population, as a threat to national unity.

    The turning point in state-minority relations, were parliamentary elections in 1998--which were to a large extent influenced by the process of European integration. At that time the European Union and other international organisations pushed for a greater integration of minority rights into the Slovak legal system and political life. A new governmental coalition also included the SMK. Rybar and Malova (2003) identified the EU aspect as the single most important factor which influenced the inclusiveness of the 1998 government towards the SMK.

    From that point, European integration became the country's main priority and other domestic political steps were driven by this goal. At the same time, EU concern with the limited existence of an integrated development policy and the need for further reforms of administrative and budgetary procedures to prepare the country for EU structural policy, stimulated Slovakia's new government to speed up the processes of regionalisation and decentralisation. The country's regional and local government structures in the early 1990s were unsuitable for implementing structural funds and thus Slovakia's governments undertook a series of reforms of sub-national institutions from the second half of the 1990s onwards. The reforms have created new opportunity structures at regional and local political levels and thus they have contributed to a better representation of minority interests.

    This report examines the case of ethnic Hungarians of the Kosice region and presents the relevant empirical findings from the field work carried out in 2005. Besides situating the case of the ethnic Hungarians in the regional economic and political context of the Kosice region, the purpose of this report is to present a series of local actors' perceptions.

    The first section analyses the historical formation of regional institutions, sub-national structures and regional economic development in the country, which have defined minority-majority relations (part 2). The second section presents and discusses the impact of Slovakia's integration into the EU (part 3, 4). The third section yields results and local actors' insights from the empirical research (part 5). The last section of this report formulates a series of assessments on the importance of EU structural funds and regional policies linked to European integration as well as European human rights norms on the interests and politics of Hungarian minority and national majority in Slovakia.

    We thus seek to assess whether the context of European integration has affected the minority-majority relations in Slovakia. We also address the question of whether and if so, then to what extent, EU funded projects resulted in changes in the regional economic situation in a given region inhabited by the minority and somehow the patterns of relations between the majority and minority in a given region were thus influenced.

    This study argues that in the case of Slovakia, the socio-structural and constitutional provisions paved the way to the political mobilisation of the Hungarian minority. The European integration process played an important role in the implementation of a minority protection regime in Slovakia and it also contributed to the empowerment of the Hungarian minority at the national and also at the regional political level. A strong social coherence of the group, experience with political representation, going as far back as 1918, and favourable constitutional and legal provisions concerning the electoral system in Slovakia, reduced the constraints on the Hungarian minority. The European integration process in combination with a committed national political elite presented an important impetus for consolidating the ethnic relations exacerbated during the Meciar government. However its impact on regional development and the general socio-economic conditions of the minorities is far less clear.

    This report is written on the basis of empirical research carried out in the course of 2005-6. The study is based on 31 in-depth interviews which were carried out with representatives from six different socioprofessional categories: elected representatives at regional and local level; minority politicians at national level; representatives of the civil society like think tanks or media; development public officials; businesspeople or representatives of commerce chambers and main projects beneficiaries. The interviews were conducted mainly at the regional level (Kosice region) but a few of them were made also with the key minority leaders at the national level. Besides these interviews, we collected data also from official documents and academic studies. The main purposes of the fieldwork were to collect a variety of perceptions from actors who are involved in the minority-majority affairs, on issues such as regional development, Europe, and their identity structure.

  2. Background of the case

    2.1. The Slovak Republic and the Hungarian minority

    In the Slovak Republic, the presence of minorities is linked to the historical context of drawing a border line between (Czecho)Slovakia and its neighbours after World War I. Until 1918, Slovakia had never been an independent country with its own territory and statehood. For over one thousand years it had been part of the Hungarian kingdom called Felvidek (Upper Country) having undergone intensive magyarization (7) mainly during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. This structural and historical context of the new Slovak nation-state has shaped majority-minority relations in the course of the 20th century.

    At the beginning of the 20th century, relations between the ethnic Hungarians and the newly formed post-war Czechoslovakia can be defined as a complex political and cultural conflict between a host state and an external homeland (Bakker, 1997). The Hungarian minority did not support the formation of the new state and perceived it as an unjust decision imposed on them by foreign superpowers. The Kosice region was seriously affected by this conflict. Over a 20 year period, the area was twice occupied by the Hungarian army (8) and the border was shifted 4 times.

    The boundaries of the new republic of Czechoslovakia, established in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon encompassed...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT