Fascism Rising in Central and Eastern Europe?
Despite promises of peace and prosperity in joining the European Union, relations between Hungary and Slovakia seem to have gone from bad to worse
Over the past few weeks, the frayed relations between Budapest and Bratislava have dominated the media headlines and civic discourse on both sides of the border. The latest strain in relations came about a few weeks ago during a football match in a small town in Slovakia. Riot police attacked fans in the Hungarian section of the stadium. Scores were injured and there were many arrests.
Hungarian football fans, the media, and even politicians cried foul to what they believe to be an unprovoked and brutal attack by the Slovak police. Subsequently, Hungarian football fans, many of them rivals who usually get together to bash each other's brains out, stood side by side in a rare display of unity and demonstrated outside of the Slovak embassy in Budapest. Some got carried away and ended up burning Slovak flags.
The Slovak authorities tried in vain to justify the attack, but their attempts were futile to say the least. While the police maintained that they were responding to a rowdy crowd who actually attacked them first, video footage proves the contrary. Not only was it clear that the police drew first blood, but the claims that the Hungarian fans were riotous was equally unsubstantiated. In fact, while in the Slovak section fans let off fireworks, Hungarian fans had to make do with simply displaying their flags and banners.
Many within Hungary are convinced that the police action was planned in advance. Hungarian fans claim that they were harassed by authorities already at the border. The Slovak police maintain that they were merely filtering out football hooligans who were known to cause trouble and that the Hungarian police provided them with a list of people to look out for. The Hungarian authorities, however, denied ever providing the Slovak authorities with such a list.
Relations between Hungary and Slovakia have been always tense, and the incident at the football stadium only added to the tension. Slovakia has a sizeable Hungarian minority and Budapest has continually raised the issue of minority rights with Bratislava, especially language and education rights. Slovak authorities, meanwhile, are wary of the intentions of the Hungarian minority. Many within Slovakia are afraid that their ultimate goal is that of full autonomy, a mere stepping stone to the recreation of a Greater Hungary. This fear among Slovaks is such that it has imposed itself on the political scene. As a result, far right and neo-fascist elements encroached into the corridors of power, as exemplified by the success of Jan Slota's Slovak National Party which, with ten percent of the electorate, has been able to entrench itself into government.
Conflicts reach back to the Treaty of Trianon
The fears of Slovaks of are not entirely without foundation, however. Many within Hungary regarded membership within the European Union as simply the start of redressing the injustice of the Treaty of Trianon which saw law tracts of Hungarian territory given over to neighbouring countries at the end of the First World War. These territorial adjustments were based on strategic considerations and not along ethnic lines, hence large Hungarian minorities ended up on the other side of the Hungarian border. While no-one within Hungary believes in taking back these lost territories by force, many don't see anything wrong with doing so the peaceful way: first with the dissolution of borders (thanks to the European Union), then through autonomy, and finally through a process of immigration and resettlement.
Such a process is actually nothing new and is already underway in many areas of the EU; for example, Poles are slowly occupying the border regions of eastern Germany. Ironically, while the Hungarian minority is still struggling for minority rights, it's actually Slovaks who have been moving across the border in droves. Property prices in Hungary are relatively cheap, thus some Slovaks have taken advantage of the situation to live in Hungary while they work in Slovakia.
Right wing extremists within Hungary, however, merely compound the problem further. Soon after the brutal police attack in Slovakia, neo-Nazis from Hungary crossed into Slovakia wearing homemade uniforms in order to commemorate the Treaty of Trianon. While the vast majority of Hungarians condemned the group and its actions, Slovak politicians took the opportunity to justify the earlier police crackdown as proof of a rise in Hungarian extremism and neo-fascism. The left-wing government in Budapest, meanwhile, attempted to score some rhetorical points of its own at home by labelling those who lament the territories lost after the Treaty of Trianon as stupid and scoundrels. For their part, the Slovak government was more restrained in its response.
Sadly, membership within the European Union has done little to resolve tensions among neighbours within Central and Eastern Europe. Throughout the region, intolerance to foreigners from other parts of the region and beyond is on the increase. In the ethnic diverse area of Vojvodina in northern Serbia, for instance, attacks against minorities (mostly Hungarian, but Jews and Gypsies as well) is commonplace. The authorities, meanwhile, often turn a blind eye to such abuse.
The same has been apparent to a limited extent in Slovakia, where individuals who speak Hungarian have been abused simply because of the language they use. This abuse is not only on the account of extremists, but sometimes by the authorities themselves. A prime example of this is the case of Marina Hedvig, who was allegedly beaten up a few years ago by skinheads because they heard her talking in Hungarian on her cell phone. To this day the Slovak authorities deny that the event ever happened despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In fact, the authorities have actually accused Hedvig of beating herself up.
EU prefers to look the other way
From the verbal diarrhoea streaming out of the mouths of politicians and the mass media on both sides of the border, it would seem that Hungarians and Slovaks intensely hate one another. This is clearly not the case. The average Slovak or Hungarian is at a loss to explain why relations between the two countries are at such a low level. Most Hungarians in Slovakia don't feel threatened; the same is true of Slovaks on the other side of the border.
Eurocrats in Brussels, meanwhile, appear to be looking the other way. Most are at a loss of how to deal with such a problem. Not only this, but dwelling on it helps to reinforce the position of Euro-sceptics who had warned about the danger of letting countries into the EU where past animosities would be brought to Brussels. As a result, the official line from the EU has been that the problem is a local one for Hungary and Slovakia to resolve -- and is of no concern to the rest of Europe.
Hence, the tension which exists between Budapest and Bratislava appears to be a non-issue. Some see it as nothing more than a political game played by both the Slovak and Hungarian governments in order to further their own narrow agendas. On the Hungarian side, tensions with Slovakia help to divert attention away from the economic meltdown that is currently underway within the country. As for Slovakia, looming national elections is seen as the main reason why the government has been playing the nationalist card. In addition to this, the personal relations between the two leaders, Robert Fico in Slovakia and Ferenc Gyurcsany in Hungary, which has been frosty for the past few years, have also played a large part in stoking the flames of intolerance.
All this is not to say that there isn't a problem with fascism and extremism in both Hungary and Slovakia. Yet this problem has to do foremost with the brutal and unrestricted power of the police and not the rising influence of certain groups. In both countries the government relies heavily on the police in order to further their agenda. At the same time, democratic institutions and the rule of law are simply swept to the side if and when necessary. Unfortunately, as the fascist tendencies and methods of such governments within the region continue to rise unabated, the EU prefers to remain silent and look the other way.