Your Excellency,

Considering the positive outcome of the work of your expert team on national minorities and the current developments in the legislation of the Slovak Republic, and remembering our July discussions at your office in The Hague, I hereby present the position of the Slovak Republic on your suggestions concerning some issues related to the national minority policy of the Slovak Republic.

The issues you have raised include the need to enhance effectiveness of a productive dialogue between the Government and the national minorities through setting up a specialised organ with adequate minority representation and participation, the proposed reform of territorial and administrative organisation of the SR, some questions related to the right for education in minority language and, finally, you also mention the use of bilingual names of towns and communities and surnames of the citizens of the Slovak Republic belonging to national minorities.

I shall briefly discuss each of the above topics and inform you on its current status.

As regards your proposal for setting up a specialized organ with adequate minority epresentation and participation, let me express the firm conviction of the Government of the Slovak Republic and my personal conviction that it is very important to secure effective participation of national minorities in the discussion and decisions aimed at finding a constructive solution to a number of pending questions in the field of ethnic relations and in the life of the society ion general. In the Slovak Republic this purpose is served, in particular, by the Governmental Council of the Slovak Republic for National Minorities, composed of specialists from the ministries concerned and - more importantly - representatives of all national minorities living on the territory of the Slovak Republic. The Hungarian minority has three representatives in this body.

Let me bring to your attention the Statute of the Governmental Council of the Slovak Republic for National Minorities which shows that the mission of the Council fully corresponds with your ideas concerning the functions such a body should fulfil. Article 1 of the Statute defines the Council as the advisory, initiative-taking and coordinating body of the Government of the Slovak Republic, and Article 2 describes the main tasks of this body as follows:

The right to effective participation in public life and in matters which have direct bearing on the minorities is exercised, in the case of the Hungarian minority, through their adequate representation in the National Council of the Slovak Republic and in the self-governing bodies of ethnically mixed communities and towns, in which the proportion of representatives of this minority often highly exceeds their proportion in the population of the municipality concerned. In addition to the Governmental Council for national Minorities there are also specialized advisory and decision-making bodies such a the Commission others whose members also include representatives of national representatives take part in the dialogue on and in the decision about subsidy allocation to minority culture in its practical manifestations.

Naturally, the dialogue between the Government and the national minorities could take a number of forms, just as there is a variety of forms of minority participation in public life, and an improvement is always possible. However, let me assure you that the slovak Government perceives the dialogue and participation as inevitable corollaries to the development of an open civic society, capable of preserving and promoting multiethnicity as one off its values.

Concerning the reform of local government, the Slovak Government has discussed possible solutions also with the Council of Europe experts whose recommendations have been largely accepted. The delegation of CE experts noted this fact with satisfaction during their second visit to Slovakia on lk7 and l8 January l994. Obviously, the next proposal of territorial and administrative organisation of the Slovak Republic will also be discussed within the Governmental Council for National Minorities. The Government of the Slovak Republic reaffirms that - where the rights of persons belonging to national minorities are concerned - their scope will not be affected by local government reform and that the ethnic aspect will be accounted for to the extent required in order to ensure optimal functioning of larger self-governing units with an appropriate social and economic balance, and in order to strengthen territorial and state integrity of the country and the civic character of the society.

I am pleased to inform you, Excellency, that the Government of the Slovak Republic approved in July l994 the document entitled "Strategy of Local Government Reform"; this documents lays down the need to create conditions for the decentralisation of competencies, their shifting from local public authorities to local self-governing authorities, so that the overall process of the transfer of competencies can take place gradually starting in January l996. The reform shall also include the creation of higher- level territorial units according to the above principle. I would like to assure you that your suggestions, based on the position of CE experts and their specific recommendations, will b e duly taken into account in the development of such a model of public administration and local and regional self-government in the Slovak Republic that will be in complete compliance with socioeconomic, natural, geographic and geopolitical characteristics of the country.

In the next section of your letter you have mentioned, Excellency, some questions related to the Hungarian minority schools in Slovakia. More specifically, you have mentioned the concerns of the Hungarian minority representatives concerning the availability of Hungarian language teachers and you discus the possibilities of improving Slovak language teaching at the Hungarian minority schools in connection with the so-called alternative schools. Let me present some facts. You may know that besides the Department of Hungarian language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy, Comenius University in Bratislava, teachers for schools using Hungarian as language of instruction are educated, in particular, at three faculties of the University of Education in Nitra: Faculty of Sciences, and Faculty of Humanities. All the above faculties have the so- called Hungarian Department for Hungarian Minority Students. Teaching at these departments is bilingual. Total enrolment of full-time students at these departments in the school year l993/94 was 531, while another 151 students studied part-time. Naturally, more Hungarian students study at other departments of the above faculties. This puts the total enrolment of Hungarian students at the University of Education in the school year l993/94 at 834. On the average, l20 students of Hungarian extraction graduate from the University of Education in Nitra annually. It is important to note that, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Education and Science, during the last decade the number of education students trained for teaching at elementary and secondary schools with Hungarian as language of instruction has had an upward trend. This fact is also reflected in the indicator of teacher-pupil ratio. The total of 2,9l8 teachers taught at the Hungarian elementary schools in the school year l993/94, representing- given the enrolment of 46,960 pupils - 26 pupils per one teacher; incidentally, this represents 22 pupils per classroom. For comparison, the situation at Slovak elementary schools is as follows: there are l8 pupils per one teacher and average number of pupils in a classroom is 24. Thus, if the representatives of the Hungarian minority show certain concerns as regards the availability of Hungarian language teachers, this does not necessarily mean - as the above figures indicate - that there is not a sufficient number of students or graduates at the University of Education, or that the organisation of their training is inadequate. Let me inform you that an Institute for Education and Cultureof National Minorities started to function at the University of Education in Nitra in the school year l994/l995 as the core of its future Faculty of National Minority Cultures ( as the preliminary date for its establishment has been set the school year l996/l997). In addition to teaching activities (training of teachers for minority schools and cultural workers), the above institution is also expected to conduct research (of history and cultures of national minorities).

I have noticed, Your Excellency, that in connection with the so-called "alternative instruction" you have also mentioned a possibility of improving the knowledge of the official language by an increase in the amount of teaching in the Slovak language in Hungarian schools even though, on the whole, you prefer a strategy oriented to improvement of Slovak- language education. I personally believe that this is a highly specialized question and that it should be dealt with by experts who should decide which is the most effective approach for attaining the objective - i.e. a higher level of bilinguism among persons belonging to the Hungarian minority (because this is not a problem among members of other minorities) - and agree on the specific form of alternative teaching. For, several empirical surveys have indicated that persons belonging to the hungarian minority are monolingual, possessing a varying degree of command of the official language; this is certainly a handicap from the aspect of their career opportunities. Moreover, this "one sided language orientation" entails the risk of the creation of a more or less isolated linguistic enclave with all negative implications it can have for majority-minority relations. It is my personal view and that of the Government of the Slovak Republic that the concept of the so-called alternative teaching is in full compliance not only with the integration objectives of the Slovak minority policy, but also with the spirit and letter of both the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages and the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities. It is, however, extremely important to realize that the so-called alternative teaching does not infringe on the right to education in one's mother tongue.

The reason why it is called "alternative" is that is offers broader possibilities of choosing one of the three forms of instruction: Slovak language education (approx. 25 0 of Hungarian minority children take up this type of school), Hungarian language education (approx. 75 % of Hungarian minority children) and bilingual. it is up to the parents to freely choose one of the above possibilities (this may also apply to Slovak parents living in ethnically mixed areas).

Your Excellency, let me inform you about three important laws that the Slovak parliament passed since September l993 and that broaden the use of minority languages: the law on names and surnames, the law on registries, and - in July l994 - the law on bilingual names of municipalities. Together with the above laws the Slovak legal system currently contains 35 legal norms directly or indirectly related to the national minorities or containing provisions on the specific rights of persons belonging to national minorities, or on the obligations of institutions with respect to national minorities. I want to assure you that the Government of the Slovak Republic sincerely pursues the objective of continuing to upgrade Slovak minority legislation on the basis of experience gained as a result of its gradual enforcement.

Let me assure you, Your Excellency, that cooperation with your office and with you personally serves as an invaluable source of information and inspiration for the Government of the Slovak Republic in its minority-related policy making. In our understanding, this cooperation is also the expression of our sincere desire to honour commitments given by our membership in the CSCE and to continue in their implementation.

Sincerely

Eduard Kukan

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Slovak Republic