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Lajcak: Hungary's Dual Citizenship Bill Brings Only Legal Uncertainty
Friday 14 May 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, May 14 (TASR) - According to Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak, the amendment to the Dual Citizenship Act that Hungary is planning to adopt offers no advantages to ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia and will only bring legal uncertainty as regards their citizenship status.
"The Act offers nothing to our citizens. It grants them no rights, no advantages, which they, as citizens of Slovakia, wouldn't be able to enjoy now. What it offers, indeed, is legal uncertainty as a result of the theoretical possibility of being attached to two countries in terms of citizenship status," said Lajcak, adding that this would give Hungarian governments a tool with which to bolster institutional ties with ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.
Lajcak stressed that if the Hungarian side is going to speak about toning Hungarian identity, the question of the related cost arises. "If we make ethnic identity stronger, it means that we want to weaken statehood identity," he said, warning that the dual-citizenship amendment ignores the fundamental agreement on good neighbourly relations between Slovakia and Hungary, which states that any principal decisions concerning both countries must be consulted bilaterally.
The chief of Slovak diplomacy also said that Slovakia's objections are of a highly pragmatic nature, as the amendment's wording has dropped the condition that those who want to claim dual citizenship have to be permanent residents of Hungary. "It has cross-references to the Citizenship Act of 1879, which means reverting to the citizenship status of the no-longer existing Kingdom of Hungary, and the only principle on which citizenship is to be granted is ethnic," said Lajcak.
He stated that Slovakia also has "substantial political objections", noting that the issue has re-surfaced right at the time when Hungary is preparing public events to mark the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Trianon Treaty. "Questioning Trianon means questioning WWI and WWII, as well as the current European architecture," said Lajcak.
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