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Most-Hid to Organise Trips for Slovak Youths to Southern Slovakia
Friday 16 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 16 (TASR) - Ethnic-Hungarian Most-Hid party wants to bring children from Orava (Zilina region) for a visit to southern Slovakia (where ethnic-Hungarians live) to show them the reality of Slovak-Hungarian relations, Most-Hid Chairman Bela Bugar said at a press conference in Bratislava on Friday.
The party intends to organise the trips utilising the Fund for Hungarian-Slovak Understanding, which Most-Hid proposes to establish according to its 'It's Time to Do Things Better' election programme. The 18-point programme was introduced to the public at the press conference.
"We plan to launch youth exchange programmes every year during the summer holidays. For instance, bring 20 students from Orava to southern Slovakia, so they can see the reality for themselves. Hence, they won't fall for lies such as that children at south don't speak Slovak," said Bugar, according to whom it's necessary to dispose of such prejudices.
Most-Hid views the establishment of the Fund for Hungarian-Slovak Understanding as one of its key priorities. The party vice-chairman Rudolf Chmel thinks that improving the co-existence between the two countries is necessary because Slovaks and Hungarians are "the most intimate neighbours"; however, their relations belong among "the worst of the worst within the EU".
Chmel, culture minister 2002-05, added that the fund would be financed by both neighbours, with Most-Hid already engaging Hungarian counterparts about the initiative. "We discussed this with the previous (Hungarian) government. However, after the parliamentary election in Hungary, the talks need to begin from scratch," said Chmel.
The fund is supposed to finance youth, art and sports activities as well as any projects that contribute to improvement of Slovak-Hungarian relations.
Bugar emphasised that the election programme is also dealing with other issues, such as unemployment, economy, pensions, corruption, healthcare or protection of minority rights.
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