The Slovak government allocated 14 million Slovak Korunas (approx. $300,000) in subsidies to national minority cultural and religious institutions. The proposal, put forward by Pál Csáky, Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights, Minorities and Regional Development, includes renovating and relocating the defaced statue of Hungarian national poet Sándor Petőfi in Petrzalka/Pozsonyligetfalu [ see report of March 20, 2001] . Funds will be allocated to help the Kalligram, Lilium Aurum, Commeth and Szabad Újság publishing houses. The renovation of cultural centers in Velké Ludince/Nagyölved, Kubánovo/Szete, Filakovo/Fülek and Kalonda will be partially covered from this fund. Twenty-four religious institutions will also be the beneficiaries of this act, while Roman Catholic churches in Jasov/Jászó and Svodín/Szögyén will be renovated. [ Új Szó (Bratislava/Pozsony) March 28, 2002]

Despite an agreement in the ruling coalition to elect its own candidate Ján Hrubala as the country’s first and new ombudsman, in a secret vote, the Slovak Parliament voted 68:35 with 21 abstentions to elect the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia’s (HZDS) candidate, Pavel Kandrac, to the post. The ombudsman—the official human rights advocate and the first in the country's history—is elected for five years. The stunning outcome came when two of the coalition parties—Party of the Democratic Left and Party of Civic Understanding—reneged on the coalition agreement and elected Kandrac, a lawyer, who had suspended his membership in the Vladimír Meciar-led HZDS only days before the vote. László Nagy, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights, voiced concern over the outcome of the vote, saying Kandrac has no experience in human rights advocacy. Moreover, during the parliamentary debate on the ombudsman law, Kandrac had objected to the very creation of the institution, initially a Hungarian Coalition Party sponsored motion. The coalition parties’ candidate Jan Hrubala, however, who garnered 46 votes, was supported by 260 civic organizations. [Új Szó (Bratislava/Pozsony), March 20, 2002]

A bilingual high school in Nová Zámky/Érsekújvár, where more than 1,100 Slovak and Hungarian pupils learn, is soon to be legally separated. The 12 Hungarian classes and their teachers have already moved into what was once a church school building and which is being leased by the town. Sándor Tóth, the school’s principal, told the Hungarian-language daily Új Szó that the school council had agreed to the separation and forwarded their request to the Nitra District School Board. [ Új Szó (Bratislava/Pozsony) March 19, 2002]

A demonstration consisting of 200 elderly citizens and neo-Nazi skinheads was held in front of the presidential palace, commemorating the 63^rd anniversary of the establishment of an independent wartime Slovakia headed by Jozef Tiso. Tiso, who was executed in 1947 as a war criminal, was responsible for instituting anti-Jewish measures and the deportation of 70,000 Jews to Nazi extermination camps. A series of incidents also took place during the day: (1) two skinheads attacked a pedestrian in the Stefánik Street, who had to be hospitalized; (2) three other out-of-town skinheads attacked a man with baseball bats; and (3) one skinhead made Nazi salutes—a crime in Slovakia—in front of the Forum Hotel. Police questioned all assailants at the police station. [Új Szó (Bratislava/Pozsony), March 15, 2002]

After a meeting in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson, Slovak President Rudolf Schuster announced that, following the Fall 2002 national elections, he will name an individual who can lead the country into NATO and the EU for the position of prime minister. “The President usually asks the leader of the winner party to form a government. Usually, but not necessarily,” added Schuster. NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson emphasized the importance of the elections, inviting Slovak citizens to cast their vote. “The world will be watching you, and if you want to be a NATO member state, you’ll have to vote for it,” said Robertson. He repeatedly highlighted the importance of respecting minority rights and having good neighborly relations. According to a survey conducted by the Slovak Statistical Office in March 2002, 57 percent of Slovakia’s population favors joining NATO, the highest percentage since 1994. [ Új Szó (Bratislava/Pozsony) March 8 and 20, 2002]

FBI agents will be invited to help the Slovak authorities fight race-motivated crime, announced the Slovak government after amending the anti-discrimination action plan of Pál Csáky, Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights, Minorities and Regional Development. The FBI agents will train police officers in regions inhabited by Roma population where inter-ethnic tensions run high. The action plan aims to help cooperation between the police and secret service in countering racist groups, such as skinheads, who recently have attacked non-Roma citizens as well. [ Új Szó (Bratislava/Pozsony) March 7, 2002]

A three-member delegation of the Hungarian Coalition Party (HCP) led by party President Béla Bugár made a five-day trip to Washington D.C., holding talks with U.S. Congressmen—among them Representative Tom Lantos and Senator Richard Lugar—high-raking officials of the Administration and the State Department. According to Bugár, U.S. politicians emphasized that Slovakia won’t be invited to join NATO if the Vladimír Meciar-led Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) forms a government after the September 2002 national elections [ see report of February 27, 2002] . An eventual invitation in November to the NATO Summit in Prague will only be the beginning of a lengthy admission process because the parliaments of all member states have to ratify the decision. We have to form a large coalition government and respect coalition agreements to keep the confidence of NATO member states, added the HCP chairman. Discussions in Washington also focused on the 1945 Benes Decrees and the so-called Hungarian Status Law. On the issue of the Benes Decrees, Bugár reiterated HCP’s stand that four of the 143 decrees make full restitution of confiscated property to the ethnic Hungarians impossible on the grounds of ethnicity and have to be eliminated from Slovak legislation. [ Új Szó (Bratislava/Pozsony) March 4, 11 and 12, 2002]