VZCZCXRO1196
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) 
¶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