NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

until the 1992 elections and Ivan Šimko occupied the position of Minister of Justice. Therefore, their appeals may have reached quite a broad audience. Since the process of privatisation of the state property by foreign companies was just starting in 1992, there were not many references to foreign investors in the media discourse. When dealing with economic issues, the political leaders focused mostly on the economic relationship between the Czech and Slovak parts of the federation. Broadly discussed issues included the underdevelopment of Slovakia, unbalanced relationship with the Czech side, debts and the economic opportunities of the independent Slovak state. As was the case of other issues, the most involved parties in the discourse were the HZDS and SNS. For instance, the SNS leader Jozef Prokeš informed the participants at an SNS press conference that “Slovakia is paying 1.2 billion crowns each month in order to remain in the federation” 129 . Besides the political leaders, economic experts close to both parties were also involved in the debate. Marián Tkáč (HZDS) stressed the negative influence of the federation, saying that “some federal institutions were financed from the federal budget, even though they were completely Czech” 130 , while Ladislav Lysák (SNS) underlined the fact that “the Slovak government controls only 30% of Slovak industry” 131 . According to Marián Tkáč, the independent Slovak economy was supposed to grow quickly – in his words, the Slovak government did not hide the fact that Slovakia had “the ambition to become the Switzerland of the East” 132 . The Czech-Slovak relations were among the most sensitive issues, due to the process of negotiations on power sharing in the federation. After the 1992 elections, the nationalist populist stream in Slovak politics was strengthened. This was mainly because of the creation of the new HZDS government. The new Prime Minister, Vladimír Mečiar, was responsible for negotiating the future shape of the common state with his Czech counterpart. After an unsuccessful attempt to bring the federation or any other type of common state to life, he started to identify himself as the symbolic “father of the nation”. For the most discussed issues, the political leaders referred to the equal position of the Slovak Republic in the federal state, as well as the emancipatory efforts of the Slovak nation and the emerging Slovak statehood, and the need for reconciliation with the Czechs. 129 Statement of Jozef Prokeš, SNS leader, at the party press conference. Pravda (August 7, 1992), p. 2. 130 Statement of Marián Tkáč, advisor to the Slovak Minister of Finances. Pravda (October 24, 1992), p. 3. 131 Statement of Ladislav Lysák, SNS economic expert. Pravda (May 30, 1992), p. 5. 132 Statement of Marián Tkáč, Vice-governor of the Slovak National Bank. Pravda (November 4, 1992), pp. 1, 5.

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