Every time a dominant majority decides to reaffirm its dominance, minorities claim to be under threat and nationalist politicians surface to seek political gains at the expense of people’s fear of the other.

The most recent case of the so-called "language row" between Slovakia and Hungary is evidence of how a misconceived idea, mixed with national pride and nationalist policy, can spark an international dispute between two neighbours, members of two of the most powerful and influential international organisations, the European Union and Nato.

Long way
Although Slovakia is often linked to the Czech Republic, given that the two for 74 years constituted one state, few people outside this region are familiar with the back story of the mixed feelings the small Slovak state, which declared independence in 1992, shares with bordering Hungary.

These mixed feelings are evident in the history of relations between the two countries, as outlined in sources such as the slovakia.org website, which claims to present "objective and non-partisan information along with balanced commentary about Slovak society".

The site says that "culturally and linguistically distinct from the dominant Slovak population, the present-day ethnic Hungarians are what remains of the Hungarians who politically and culturally dominated Slovakia for about 1000 years (most recently in the form of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) until 1918, when Czechoslovakia was created".

The end of World War 1 saw several predominantly ethnic Hungarian regions included in Czechoslovakia, to the discontent of many Hungarians.

The website says that many Slovak nationalists resent the long history of political subordination to Hungary, and view the remaining Hungarian minority in Slovakia not merely as a minority, but as the dispossessed former masters.

It goes on to say that "the negative image of the Hungarian minority (which forms 10 per cent of Slovakia’s 5.4 million population) and fears of their irredentism had been intensified by the group’s persistent refusal to integrate itself into the new host state, as well as by the revisionist efforts of neighbouring Hungary which has never fully reconciled itself to the harsh dictate of the 1920 Trianon Treaty".

With this "non-partisan and objective" information as a background, it was no surprise that the Slovak government’s decision to introduce changes to the state language act was not well received either by the Hungarian minority or Hungary itself.

The changes, which came into effect on September 1 2009, make it illegal to use "incorrect" Slovak in Slovakia, with fines as high as 5000 euro. What this means is that, as of September 1, the use of minority languages is banned in official communications in towns and villages where the ethnic minority makes up less than 20 per cent of the population. Another provision says that a minority language must not appear larger than the Slovak on bilingual memorials and plaques. Although the law applies to all Slovak citizens, Hungarian minority representatives saw it as a direct attack on their ethnic integrity and were quick to protest. Hungary’s main parties issued a joint declaration asking the Slovak government to repeal the changes.

According to Slovak foreign minister Miroslv Lajcak, the law was in no way restrictive of the use of minority languages in Slovakia.

"We are sure that Slovakia’s State Language Act does not go beyond good European standards, and that it is nothing unusual in Europe," Lajcak was quoted as saying on the euobserver.com news website.

He said the law was intended to "ensure that no Slovak citizen, irrespective of their ethnicity, feels disadvantaged or discriminated against in the territory of their country on the grounds of the language they speak".

In short, Slovaks claimed that the law would allow Slovak minorities in areas of high ethnic Hungarian density to speak their own language, while Hungarians claimed that it would prevent them from speaking their Hungarian language.

Badly conceived
Lajcak’s statement was confirmation of the negative views shared among parts of Slovak society of the Hungarian minority’s choice of first language in daily communication.

The thing is that areas populated by Hungarians are dominated by the Hungarian language, and most of the shop signs and other texts are in Hungarian. Given that the Slovak constitution says that the official language is Slovak, this situation only helped provoke nationalistic feelings. These feelings took legislative form in the amended language act, in line with the constitutional provision that the use of other languages in dealings with the authorities will be regulated by law.

One of the signs that the conflict has started affecting official bilateral relations was the cancellation of a planned meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries. A serious blow to bilateral relations came on August 21 when Hungarian president Laszlo Solyom was denied entry to Slovak territory for an historic commemoration which included the unveiling of a monument.

According to Solyom, this was unprecedented behaviour, while, according to the Slovaks, his visit was a provocation since he had been officially asked by the Slovaks to cancel the visit because it coincided with the commemoration by Slovaks of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the armies of the former Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact, including Hungary.

And when on September 1 the state language law came into effect, the scene was set for yet further drama, with nationalists on both sides playing the main role.