European Charter for Minority or Regional Languages (Language Charter), born within frameworks of the European Committe, came into power in Slovakia on January 1, 2002. As part of the control mechanisms related to the compliance with conditions of the Language Charter, the Slovak government is supposed to report about fulfillment of its obligations.
Examining the latest reports made by the government, the Hungarian Community Party (SMK/MKP)’s opinion is that in several cases the government is not at all bothered to follow the recommendations of the CoE regarding the Hungarian language use. On the contrary, the government in many important issues distancing itself from the recommendations of the CoE.
The SMK/MKP is aware that there are no effective legal means to make anyone follow the recommendations of the Language Charter. Thus, it is mostly up to the sincerity of the governments if they follow their commitments taken up in a voluntary fashion.
It’s high time the government turns sincere, and breaks with the earlier practice that by signing the Language Charter it tries to put on a pretence of being civilized, but in reality it is works against its own commitments and against his own Hungarian speaking tax-paying citizens.
