Hoping to build support among Slovakia’s Hungarian minority, opposition party Progressive Slovakia (PS) toured the country’s southern regions last week. During a stop in Komárno, the party unveiled a resolution aimed at addressing long-standing issues affecting the minority.
According to PS chair Michal Šimečka, residents of southern Slovakia suffer from the consequences of what he called the Fico government’s incompetence. The region, he said, faces demographic decline, economic stagnation, and widening disparities. Šimečka added that PS intends to do everything it can to improve relations between Slovaks and Hungarians.
One of the proposed measures touches on the sensitive topic of the Beneš Decrees—post-World War II laws enacted by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile that stripped many ethnic Germans and Hungarians of citizenship and property, leading to expulsions. PS suggested rejecting the collective guilt that underpinned the decrees and called on revelant authorities to stop referrencing the decrees in their decision.
The proposal triggered strong criticism from coalition leaders as well as parts of the opposition.
Coalition warns of risks to bilateral relations
Denník N notes that PS referenced a 2007 resolution adopted by the Slovak parliament, which rejected the notion of collective guilt but simultaneously confirmed the validity of the decrees. That resolution also stated that from that point on, no legal relationships can be altered on their basis. Yet, the daily adds, PS argues that institutions such as the Slovak Land Fund (SPF) continue to reference the decrees in their decisions.
PS also called on the government to acknowledge that the post-war Czechoslovak government committed violations of humanitarian principles against the Hungarian minority.
Interior Minister and Hlas chair Matúš Šutaj Eštok was among the first to criticise PS. Calling the proposal “impudence,” he labelled PS “a servant of foreign interests” that sides with Brussels, Ukraine, or Prague over Slovakia.
“PS proposes halting the application of the Beneš Decrees. We have the best relations with Hungary in history—so why throw a live grenade into them?” he said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Speaker of Parliament Richard Raši (Hlas) warned of a “chain reaction” and accused PS of disrespecting historical realities. SNS chair Andrej Danko said that if PS does not stop, he will turn to the General Prosecutor and urged all parties to “keep their hands off the decrees.”
Opposition KDH also criticised PS, stressing that while it is legitimate to seek better political cooperation with the Hungarian community, it is dangerous to “cheaply reopen old historical wounds,” said party vice-chair Viliam Karas.
Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer) accused PS of attempting to gain power by “playing the Hungarian card.” He described the move as an effort to undermine the state and disrupt the post-war settlement, calling it “absolutely unacceptable.”
At its off-site session in Fiľakovo on Wednesday, 26 November, the government adopted a statement declaring the decrees a closed issue and rejecting any attempts to reopen or politicise them.
“If anyone thinks the decrees are a cheap political topic to play with, they are very wrong,” PM Robert Fico said after the meeting.
PS stands by its proposal
In response, Šimečka said the party has never proposed—and will never propose—abolishing the Beneš Decrees or disputing Slovak history. He rejected claims to the contrary as “intentional lies and demagoguery.” He stressed that the resolution does not mention cancelling the decrees.
He said the proposal concerns practical matters only: ensuring that no land office or state institution expropriates property based on the decrees.
Šimečka also argued that President Peter Pellegrini had previously promised to address similar issues, meaning this is not an attempt to reopen old wounds.
Denník N notes that Pellegrini raised nearly identical ideas during his 2024 presidential campaign—both when Krisztián Forró endorsed him before the second election round and later when Pellegrini, already president, appointed Forró as his adviser for national minorities. Forró announced that a working group to address the decrees would be created, but it has yet to materialise.