Slovenia, Hungary mark 30 years of key ethnic minorities agreement
Lendava/Szentgotthard, 18 May - National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič and her Hungarian counterpart Laszlo Köver visited the border area populated by the Slovenian and Hungarian ethnic minorities on Thursday as the two countries marked 30 years since they signed a key agreement to safeguard their ethnic minorities in Slovenia and Hungary.
Ljubljana
The Hungarian and Slovenian presidents of parliament, Laszlo Köver and Urška Klakočar Zupančič, during Köver's March visit to Slovenia.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA
File photo
The two parliamentary speakers first attended a ceremony in Szentgotthard marking the anniversary of the agreement, and then travelled to Slovenia to attend in Lendava the signing of a revised 2012 agreement on cooperation among Slovenian and Hungarian umbrella minority organisations in the Raba region and Prekmurje, respectively.
In her speech in Szentgotthard, Klakočar Zupančič thanked both communities for dedication to their culture and language and commitment to preserve their national identity and encourage economic development. In this context, she stressed the importance of maintaining good practice in the protection of minority rights and care for minorities.
The agreement Slovenia and Hungary signed in Ljubljana in 1992 is according to Klakočar Zupančič key to addressing topics regarding the minorities and uniting them. She is confident that Slovenia and Hungary will continue to make efforts for both communities to progress and develop, and to implement the agreement in an exemplary way.
Both communities are according to her aware that their progress is possible only if they cooperate with one another and with their mother nations, her office said.
Köver said that "the joint success story" - the manner in which the two countries ensure minority rights - can serve as a role model to EU institutions and the world. He said, as reported by Hungarian press agency MTI, that the 1992 agreement is an effective tool to strengthen ethnic peace, national justice and political stability.
He believes the agreement was far ahead of its time in many ways and could serve as a model to develop an EU-level minority protection model that almost 50 million voters with a minority background in the EU have wished for for years.
Klakočar Zupančič said that the agreement was a document whose content would always be topical. She is convinced that ensuring legal protection and preserving and developing the national identity of both communities are among the main priorities of both countries.
She also pointed out that the representatives of the two ethnic communities were a symbol of cooperation and respect between the two neighbouring countries.