Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10BRATISLAVA60
2010-02-11 11:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bratislava
Cable title:  

BALANCING THE UNBALANCEABLE: VOLLEBAEK'S EFFORTS TO MONITOR

Tags:  PHUM PREL LO HU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSL #0060/01 0421112
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 111112Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0410
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0474
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000060 

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/CE, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/10/2020
TAGS: PHUM PREL LO HU
SUBJECT: BALANCING THE UNBALANCEABLE: VOLLEBAEK'S EFFORTS TO MONITOR
SLOVAK LANGUAGE LAW

REF: A) BRATISLAVA 14 AND PREVIOUS B) 09 BRATISLAVA 176

BRATISLAVA 00000060 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Keith A. Eddins, CDA.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000060

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/CE, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/10/2020
TAGS: PHUM PREL LO HU
SUBJECT: BALANCING THE UNBALANCEABLE: VOLLEBAEK'S EFFORTS TO MONITOR
SLOVAK LANGUAGE LAW

REF: A) BRATISLAVA 14 AND PREVIOUS B) 09 BRATISLAVA 176

BRATISLAVA 00000060 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Keith A. Eddins, CDA.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
Knut Vollebaek visited Bratislava on February 8 to meet with
Slovak officials and minority representatives to discuss the
implementation phase of the newly-amended Slovak State Language
Act (ref a). Although Vollebaek told members of Bratislava's
diplomatic corps that he does not like the law and personally
opposes fines, he stressed that it is consistent with
international standards. He believes the implementation
guidelines which the Slovak government passed in December will
help to clarify the implementation of the law, specifically with
respect to the application of sanctions. In short, Vollebaek's
visit was a PR victory for the Fico Government, but whether the
Slovak Government can keep the genie in the bottle, eluding
provocations to enforce the law to its full extent, remains
doubtful. End Summary.


2. (C) In Bratislava, Vollebaek met with President Gasparovic,
Prime Minister Fico, Foreign Minister Lajcak, Culture Minister
Madaric, Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) Chairman Pal Csaky, and
Bela Bugar, chairman of the newly-created SMK splinter party
Most-Hid. Vollebaek also spoke at a Slovak Foreign Policy
Association (SFPA) event, and attended dinner at the Norwegian
Ambassador's house with several members of the diplomatic corps.
Following his meeting with Vollebaek, FM Lajcak stated that he
expects Budapest to stop spreading lies and misinformation.
Lajcak characterized Hungarian PM Bajnai's recently-announced
"language fund," which will provide 185,000 euros to a
consortium of ethnic-Hungarian NGOs in Slovakia to pay the legal
costs and fines for ethnic Hungarians who are censured under the
Slovak language law, as an "unorthodox construct" about which he
was also seeking the European Commission's opinion. SMER MP and
Chair of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Juraj
Horvath, condemned the fund, as it "disrespects the work of the
Commissioner and the existing cooperation between Bratislava and

Budapest."


3. (C) Vollebaek told members of the local diplomatic corps that
Budapest's move was at the very least "foolish and malicious,"
if not a violation of international law. Vollebaek argued that
the Hungarians, by offering to cover fines, are encouraging
their "kin" to violate the laws of the country in which they
live. In his talk at the SFPA, and elsewhere in his visit,
Vollebaek underlined that the Slovak government's desire to pass
an amendment to the language law is an internal matter. He also
said that it is the duty of states with large populations
outside of their borders to support their ethnic minority's
rights, but to do so in a way that does not provoke neighbors.

Ethnic Hungarians Still Disappointed


4. (C) After Vollebaek met with members of the SMK, Chairman
Csaky publicly stated that, "it is a silly law" and vowed to
draft a bill on the use of minority languages by the end of
March for Vollebaek's review. Privately, Csaky told Charge on
February 10 that he found Vollebaek's messages to be "two-faced
and vague." Csaky also said that Vollebaek put too much trust
in the "neo-Bolsheviks" in the Slovak government. Csaky
acknowledged that Bajnai's language fund, which he said SMK did
not support, was a bad idea motivated by Bajnai's desire to show
Fico he too can play hardball. Csaky observed that the language
law is not being implemented aggressively, and compared it to
the Slovak press law, which caused great outcry upon its passage
in April 2008 (ref b),but has not been widely used (PM Fico's
December 2009 reply to a leading daily SME commentary being the
most notable exception.)

Implementation Guidelines Are Good


5. (C) Vollebaek told the diplomatic corps that he is proud of
the role he played in getting the Slovaks to issue their
twenty-one implementing guidelines -- and he thinks they are
both significant and useful. While he recognizes that the
Hungarians view them as too general and not restrictive enough,
Vollebaek and his staff argue that they accomplish exactly what
was intended. In the first instance, they require the Slovaks
-- if they want to enforce the law -- to identify which of the
guidelines are being violated. Second, a fine could only be
leveled after a series of warnings, giving the alleged violator
ample opportunity to correct the problem. This has the added
advantage of delaying the possibility of controversial fines and
the ensuing uproar and tension.


6. (C) Vollebaek said the Slovaks also told him (as they did us)
that the Culture Ministry was not rushing to fill the "language
law monitor" jobs that were to be created to implement and
enforce the new law. Vollebaek said Fico wants to avoid the
international scrutiny that would follow any fines or other
aggressive enforcement measures, particularly in the run-up to
the June elections. However, it will be interesting to see to

BRATISLAVA 00000060 002.2 OF 002


what extent Fico and the government can keep a lid on the
things; die-hard supporters of the law, e.g., SNS members, as
well as ethnic Hungarians and other opponents of the law, may
have other ideas. On February 10, civic activist Ondrej Dostal,
for example, who has been a vocal critic of the law, staged a
minor act of civil disobedience in front of the Culture Ministry
by brandishing a sign in English only that read "Bridget, I Love
You, Mark." Dostal's organization plans to continue to violate
the law in a similar manner, report the violations to the
Ministry, refuse to pay any consequent fines, and then appeal to
the courts.

Comment: Balancing the Unbalanceable


7. (C) Vollebaek's visit to Bratislava was a public relations
victory for the Fico administration. Vollebaek again publicly
confirmed that the amended language law does not violate
Slovakia's human rights commitments, and welcomed the
implementing guidelines. While Vollebaek stated that he did not
think the law was good (and on several occasions said he was
personally opposed to fines),he characterized much of the
criticism of the law as "exaggerated and misleading."


8. (C) Vollebaek, in his SFPA talk, which had a more broad focus
about his mandate and was entitled "Balancing the
Unbalanceable," said the ideal language policy both guarantees
access to education in one's mother tongue and also encourages
the use of the majority language for successful social cohesion.
In a word: bilingualism. From our perspective, in most parts
of Slovakia with substantial Hungarian minority populations this
is the reality. Unfortunately, the Slovak government has chosen
to exercise its sovereign right to promote the state language in
a way that has set off alarm bells in Hungary and made some
members of the ethnic-Hungarian minority feel targeted. In this
climate, the goals of promoting bilingualism and national
cohesion will indeed seem "unbalanceable" rather than
complementary.


9. (C) As for PM Fico's stated goal of avoiding additional
controversy related to the law, we are frankly doubtful that it
is within his power. The real question is not whether
nationalists, ethnic Hungarians or civic activists will try to
test the law in potentially provocative ways, but rather how the
Slovak government will react.
EDDINS