NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

It can be argued that the Slovak-Hungarian relations were already a very sensitive issue before the split of the federation. The continuing dispute over the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros water dam not only damaged the Hungarian Czechoslovak relations, but also accelerated the ethnic dimension of the whole problem. Moreover, the first democratically elected Hungarian Prime Minister, József Antal, stressed in one of his speeches – for the first time after 1989 – the importance of the Hungarian minorities living beyond the borders of Hungary. His statement, in which he declared himself to be the Prime Minister of fifteen million Hungarians living in the Carpathian basin, was perceived very negatively by the majority of ethnic Slovak politicians. Last but not least, the process of the split of the Czech-Slovak federation was considered to be a very negative step by the Hungarians living in Slovakia, mainly due to the expectation of negative consequences for their status. In the words of the ethnic Slovak politicians, Hungary was presented as a problematic neighbour and even as a real threat to the Slovak national interests and the Slovak statehood. Accordingly, the Hungarian minority and its representatives were perceived with a certain amount of suspicion. This lack of trust prevented the majority of ethnic Slovak politicians from cooperating with their Hungarian counterparts. Moreover, keeping in mind the anti-Hungarian sentiments that had been among the basic pillars of Slovak nationalism, the reinvention of various prejudices or sentiments was not that difficult. The Slovak elite could also have relied on the prevailing anti-Hungarian sentiment that was deeply rooted in the mass political culture. Thus, instead of making an effort to reconcile the two neighbouring national communities, the representatives of the most powerful parties strengthened the division lines. The most active parties participating in the media discourse were the SNS and HZDS, followed by the KDH. On the other hand, the emergence of the MKDH-Spolužitie coalition showed the importance of nationalist slogans for some Hungarian leaders in Slovakia as well. Laszló Doboš, the MP for MKDH Spolužitie, interfered in the discussion on the new constitution of the Slovak Republic by saying that “collective rights for self-determination can be assigned both to nations and national minorities” 141 , while Miklós Duray, the leader of Spolužitie, told Pravda journalists that there existed a danger that “Slovakia is going to be transformed into certain kind of national dictatorship” 142 . On the other hand, the HZDS leader Vladimír Mečiar, together with other important party leaders like A. M. Húska and M. Kňažko, called the representatives of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia “the fifth column”, since they were 141 Statement of László Dobos, MP, at a parliamentary debate on the new Slovak constitution. Pravda (September 2, 1992), p. 1. 142 Interview with Miklós Duray, Spolužitie leader. Pravda (September 8, 1992), p. 5.

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