NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

opposition parties. The government was generally accused of selling out the national property, to the benefit of foreign owners. Another frequently highlighted issue in the political discourse was Slovak Hungarian relations. More or less open anti-Hungarian attitudes united both the coalition and opposition parties. SDKÚ and KDH did not hide their anti Hungarian positions, even despite the fact that the SMK was – for the first time in the history of the independent Slovakia – a part of the governmental coalition. Although problems in the bilateral relations between the Slovak Republic and Republic of Hungary overshadowed the relations between the Slovak majority and Hungarian minority at a first glance, both issues were closely interlinked. More attention – at least when compared to the previous elections – was also paid to the issue of the Roma minority. Despite the fact that the Roma are considered to be a separate ethnic group, they were presented mostly as a problematic social group by some representatives of the political elite. All in all, besides focusing on national values and national sovereignty and rather rare demonstrations of economic nationalism, the overwhelming part of the Slovak media discourse in 2002 was dominated by Slovak-Hungarian relations. When it comes to the positive national self-presentation, similarly to ten years before, some of the political parties continued to present themselves to exclusive custodians of the national idea. In this regard, the majority of the opposition parties perceived the first Dzurinda government as a betrayer of the national interests and a robber of national property. The same attitude was held by the SDĽ and to some extent also by the SOP. The SDĽ leader Ladislav Koncoš argued that the SDĽ was the “bearer of the crucial national values” 171 . One of the SMER leaders, Monika Beňová, requested the government to be “more proud and less subordinate” 172 . The representatives of some minor parties also took active part in the discourse. Ján Slota, the PSNS leader, argued that the PSNS was a good choice for all those Slovaks who considered themselves to be “part of the nation” 173 . On the other hand, the statement of Ivan Gašparovič – at that time leader of the Movement for Democracy (HDZ) – called for the creation of a new political party that would be “also based on national principles” 174 . It can be argued that issues related to economic nationalism were completely covered by the nationalist and left-oriented parties. In one of her statements Anna 171 Statement of Pavol Koncoš, SDĽ leader. Party advertisement in Pravda (September 17, 2002), p. 22. 172 Statement of Monika Beňová, MP, regarding the possible opening of the Slovak air space for the US military aircrafts. Pravda (November 11, 2002), p. 2.

173 Statement of Ján Slota, PSNS leader. Pravda (August 9, 2002), p. 14. 174 Statement of Ivan Gašparovič, HDZ leader. Pravda (January 7, 2003), p. 2.

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