Ref.: 201.707/95-KAMI

Dear Mr. High Commissioner,

I am taking the liberty of briefly reacting to your commentary and recommendations based on the results of the work of your experts during their stay in Slovakia on June 5-7, 1995. In your letter you have mentioned three themes which, at the time of your team's visit, ranked among most frequently discussed in the area of minority relations: the concept of so-called alternative education, draft principles of the law on the state language of the Slovak Republic and the cultural policy towards minorities.

Before I touch on each of the above-mentioned themes to give you information about the current state of affairs and the measures in process. I would like to assure you. Your Excellency, - and please take this for an axiom of the Slovak minority related policy - that all international commitments, both legal and political, which the Slovak Republic has, are an obvious component part of all considerations and measures on the part of the state in the area of minority relations, The Slovak Republic has confirmed convincingly its commitments also by incorporating them fully into the basic treaty with the Republic of Hungary. This treaty can be regarded as a reliable criterion of the standards for minority related policies and as an expression of the belief that these rights are universally acknowledged regardless of number, origin or mode of settlement of the given minority. However, the organic component part of such policy, which is simultaneously a prerequisite of its constructiveness, is the creation of the conditions for full civic integration of the members of minority in the life of the majority society and the state. And it is on the background of this unquestionable fact that the project of the so-called alternative education and the draft principles of the law on state language have to be understood.

As for the project of the so-called alternative education, or rather reison d'etre of this idea, I fully agree with the opinion expressed clearly in the previous letter of October 28, 1994 and hence I will not repeat it once more. I would only like to inform you that on the basis of research into parents' interest to have alternative instruction in certain subjects introduced for their children, this form of education will be implemented in the school year of 1995/1996 in 29 kindergartens having 407 children, in one small-class elementary school with 6 pupils and in 3 secondary schools with 363 students. Although these are preliminary data, It is obvious that in absolute majority of schools with Hungarian language as a language of instruction, this form of education will not be introduced for lack of parental consent (thus fully respecting by the government of the SR the proclaimed principle of voluntary option) and different methods of instruction of the Slovak language as the state language will be applied in order to achieve - above all in the interest of the future of the children of Hungarian minority - adequate standard of the Slovak Language command. In this respect I want to note, Your Excellency, that on the basis of the Concept of Teaching Slovak Language and Literature in schools with Hungarian as a language of instruction, approved by the Government of the Slovak Republic as early as 1991, new curriculum for the subject of the Slovak language and literature was gradually being introduced in schools. The curriculum became effective on September 1, 1993, for elementary schools with Hungarian as a language of instruction and, in this school year, for secondary schools with Hungarian as a language of instruction. Communicative approach is the dominant principle of this concept. The Ministry for the Education of the Slovak Republic has elaborated a study based on the findings of Central Board of Inspectors and particular inspection centres on the nationally mixed territory, entitled The Assessment of the Level of the Slovak Language Command in Schools on Nationally Mixed Territory and in cooperation with the State Pedagogic Institute and methodological departments of particular school boards on nationally mixed territory, proposed a set of measures for the improvement of Slovak language command. The Government of the Slovak Republic on its session on September 26, 1995, proposed to put further measures to this set. Hopefully these measures will result in what was after all the intention - in my opinion, however, in a far more efficient way - of the project of so-called alternative education: to release the members of Hungarian minority from the monolingual grip with the ultimate objective to achieve "closer relations between peoples and a better understanding between different population groups within the state on an intercultural basis". (Paragraph 14 of Explanatory Report to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages).

As for the concerns that have been communicated to you in connection with potential consequences of the refusal of the project of alternative education on the part of Hungarian minority parents. I can assure you, Your Excellency, that they are fully ungrounded. We can have, of course, different opinions - and I have expressed mine already - on the reasonability of such attitude but that was a free decision of the majority of parents and it will be respected as such.

I will command on the draft principles of the Law on State Language of the Slovak Republic only briefly because this piece of legislation is still in process of creation to which legal experts of Council of Europe have been invited quite recently. As you mentioned - there are legal norms governing the position of the state language in other European countries as well. Of course, in countries with numerous minorities caution has to be exercised in order that by adopting this norm legitimate rights of minorities are not infringed. Similar attention must be paid, However, to ensure that the state language as a general language of communication is protected and respected on the whole territory, which unfortunately is not always the case on the territories with higher concentration of Hungarian population. I am convinced, your Excellency, that the legal assistance of the experts of Council of Europe as well as the recommendations of your experts which I referred to the Ministry for Culture as the initiator of the draft law, will be sufficient guarantee for achieving a just equilibrium and will disperse potential concerns of the representatives of minority about the failure to respect their legitimate language rights. I take this opportunity, Your Excellency, to inform you that the consultation of legal experts of Council of Europe and the experts of the Slovak Republic in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of legislation Mrs. K.Tóthová and the Minister for Culture Mr. I Hudec took place in Strasbourg on October 5, 1995. The result of this consultation was positive. The experts stated that the adoption of the law is well-founded and it is not in contradiction with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. After the utilization of the legislative technical recommendations of legal experts of Council of Europe and the experts of your team, the draft principles of the law on State Language will be submitted to the Governmental Council of the Slovak Republic for National Minorities.

As for financing minority culture in Slovakia, it is necessary to mention certain facts which will help to better understand the present situation in this area. In the Slovak Republic there exists the so-called three-layer model of financing of minority cultures which however, is not fully applicable to all minorities. Its applicability depends on the size of particular minority, its internal potential and the density settlement rate. Cultural activities of minorities are funded on the lowest level from the budget of municipalities as independent self-governing units. On this level, we can speak about entirely autonomous decision making in finances spent on culture )for example, the publishing of local and regional periodicals in Hungarian language). This applied mostly to Hungarians, Ruthenians and Ukrainians. The next level is represented by a considerably developed network of cultural institutions whose founder is the Ministry of Culture and which provides services either to all citizens living on nationally mixed territory (regional cultural centres, libraries), or have a direct minority related nature (theatres, museums, dancing and singing ensembles). Understandably, since the founder is the Ministry of Culture, they are entitled by law to contributions from the state budget. Of course, these contribution are granted without any problems. This applies mainly to Hungarians, Ruthenians, Ukrainians and Romanies. Finally, the third layer with the most universal reach is represented by cultural associations of particular minorities and their cultural activities and the publishing houses and offices of minorities. At present there are ten such cultural associations which were established on the basis of Act on Civic Associations.

On this level certain problems exist connected with the financing of cultural activities of minorities as you are suggesting, your Excellency, in your letter. According to the information of the Ministry of Culture, in the period from 1992 to 1994, at a time when financing on this level fro minorities (for cultural events, periodicals and non-periodicals, non-periodical literature) was decided solely by the representatives of these minorities there were cases of non-effective and purposeless spending. Unfortunately, also for such goals which were not connected with the cultural activities. Auditing bodies of the Ministry of Culture and the High Audit Office of the Slovak Republic in this respect found breach of certain laws as well as of the Guidelines of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak republic for Provision, Accounting and Audit of Contributions from the Budget of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic in interest associations, publishers of minority and children periodicals and non-periodicals and original cultural production and distribution. As a result the Ministry of Culture at present is claiming a sum amounting to 740 665,90 Sk for Romany cultural association, 470 000 SK from the Ruthenian Revival and the Hungarian Cultural Association Csemzdok was withheld the contribution amounting to 4 112 000 Sk (the Ministry of Culture paid out only part of this contribution amounting to 2 100 000 Sk) by time the Csemadok submits its accounting for 1994 which it would be clear Csemadok had used 4 766 000 Sk that were strictly risk-specific.

These facts have led the Ministry of Culture to make the decision to change the mechanism of financing the development of minority cultures, catered for by cultural association and publishing houses. Finances are now provided directly to submitted cultural projects that were approved by the Commission for Minority Cultures on a contract basis between the Ministry of Culture and the project applicants. It is a grant mechanism which is quite common in the world. This commission is a component part of the State Cultural Fund Pro Slovakia and has representation from the members of minorities. In this respect, Your Excellency, your proposal for financing mechanism in the development of minority culture seems interesting but evidently premature. In any case, I informed the Ministry of Culture about your proposal and it may become subject of discussions pro futuro.

I can assure you, Your Excellency, that as for the measures related to the strengthening of culture of Slovaks living in ethnically mixed territories, it is not focused against any minority culture and it will not be implemented using financial resources dedicated to the development of these cultures. You are right in saying, Your Excellency, that as far as the objective of such policy is to achieve reasonably balanced coexistence of different cultures, its legitimacy cannot be questioned. After all - I mention it as a curiosity - this self- evident fact was taken on board by the European Commission for the Democracy through Law, when in Art. 16 of its proposals for European Convention for the Protection of Minorities expresses verbis the duty of the state to take measures for the protection of the members of majority who find themselves in the position of local minorities is embedded. I take the liberty to inform you that in 1996 a special fund will raised for the implementation of this intention from the resources that each sector had to claim in its budget for 1996, in line with the Government Decree No. 459/1995.

In conclusion, Your Excellency, I would like to once more refer to the previous letter of October 28, 1995 in connection with the reform of local public administration. All that had been mentioned in this respect in that letter, still applied in full extent. Discussions about the new type of territorial and administrative division of Slovakia are held both on governmental level as well as the level of non-governmental organizations, for example the Association of Towns and Villages in Slovakia I am confident that the result of discussion will be a model which will correspond to essential interest of this country and, of course, to the commitments that the Slovak Republic as a member state of the Council of Europe has in this respect. Your Excellency, allow me to express appreciation of the cooperation with Your office and with You personally in sincere belief that it is useful for both parties involved.