Foreign Minister Blanar Rejects Progressive Slovakia Remarks on Benes Decrees

Bratislava, 25 November (TASR) – Statements by Progressive Slovakia (PS) on the Benes Decrees are unacceptable, Foreign and European Affairs Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) declared on Tuesday. Blanar accused PS of trying to attain power even at the cost of "playing the Hungarian card". "I consider this an undermining of the Slovak Republic at its foundations and a disruption of the post-war settlement, which is absolutely unacceptable," the minister emphasized, pointing out that Slovak-Hungarian relations are currently at the best level in the history of the independent Slovak Republic. "I therefore reject any gambling with and flagrant misuse of the issue of the Benes Decrees, which the opposition Progressive Slovakia opened at its party meeting," Blanar added. During PS's outreach visit to southern Slovakia last week, the PS parliamentary group adopted on Thursday (20 November) in Komarno a resolution on coexistence and development in southern Slovakia. Among other points, it called on the government to take gestures of goodwill towards Hungarians in Slovakia, which may include acknowledging that Czechoslovak authorities committed violations of humanitarian principles and other wrongs against the Hungarian community in the post-war period. According to the PS resolution, such gestures may also include adopting measures "to ensure that state authorities, when assessing lawsuits on determining ownership of property connected with confiscation decisions, observe the principle that the decrees of the president of the Czechoslovak Republic, as part of Slovak law, have expired and cannot serve as a basis for decisions creating new legal realities". The statements by PS drew strong criticism from coalition parties as well as from the opposition Christian Democratic Movement. Its vice-chair Viliam Karas stated that although PS believes it is appealing to voters of Hungarian nationality, "in reality it does nothing but introduce tension into society and awaken old wrongs that may harm all of us – Slovaks and Hungarians alike". mf