NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

collaborating with “certain political circles in Hungary” 143 . Milan Kňažko, in a debate on the programme declaration of the new government, said that Slovakia “is not a multinational state, but a single nation state with many national minorities” 144 . In fact, by making this statement, he assigned minorities the role of second-class citizens. Meanwhile, the newPrimeMinister, VladimírMečiar, denoted the policy of the MKDH-Spolužitie coalition leaders to be “dirty and deceitful” 145 . For the SNS, press conferences provided the most effective occasions for spreading ideas and thoughts. At one of them, Jozef Prokeš, for instance, reasoned that the unfair treatment of Slovakia by the European Community in the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros case was caused by the existence of a “Hungarian lobby inWestern Europe” 146 . Another MP, Vladimír Miškovský, considered all calls for autonomy in Southern Slovakia to be not only “dangerous and unacceptable”, but also as attempting to “break the territorial integrity of Slovakia” 147 . The KDH leader Ján Čarnogurský introduced an even more biased, “biological” explanation for the tension between the Slovaks and Hungarians to the discourse. He pointed at a “coded feeling that all the Hungarians are constantly threatened by all their neighbours” 148 . 4.3. Comparison of the Polish and Slovak political discourses 1991–1992: similarities and differences The beginning of 1990s in Poland and Slovakia was a period characterised by the reinvention of nationalism and its employment in the political discourses of both Poland and Slovakia. The increased importance of nationalism might be explained in several ways, e.g. by the appearance of the so-called “ideological vacuum” or the changed geopolitical situation in the post-Soviet bloc. It also should not be forgotten that the process of the overall political, economic and societal transformation was accompanied by a reopening of the debate on the society’s crucial values, among which traditional values played an especially important role. The role of the nation, its historical roots, and the importance 143 Vladimír Mečiar, Milan Kňažko and A. M. Húska at the party press conference. Pravda (April 23, 1992), p. 3. 144 Statement of Milan Kňažko, parliamentary debate on the program declaration of the government. Pravda (July 16, 1992), p. 1. 145 Statement of Vladimír Mečiar, Prime Minister. Pravda (September 30, 1992), p. 2. 146 Statement of Jozef Prokeš, SNS leader, at the party press conference. Pravda (October 24, 1992), p. 3. 147 Statement of Vladimír Miškovský, MP, at the party briefing. Pravda (June 20, 1992), p. 3. 148 Statement of Ján Čarnogurský, KDH leader, at the party press conference. Pravda (September 25, 1992), p. 2.

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