Fico: SMER MPs to Have Free Hand in Minority Textbook Vote

TASR - The News Agency of the Slovak Republic
February 3
Bratislava

SMER-SD MPs will be allowed to vote according to their own convictions on an amendment to the Education Act that deals with the languages used for place-names in textbooks for minority schools, SMER chairman and Premier Robert Fico said on Tuesday after a SMER caucus session.

The bill, which was returned to Parliament by President Ivan Gasparovic after receiving support from the Opposition and SMER MPs, is due to be voted on a second time.

"As far as this law is concerned, SMER-SD supported it the first time ... It's fully in the hands of the MPs, I'll respect any decision," said Fico.

"If the amendment isn't passed, we'll look for other ways of dealing with this. If it is passed, we'll be able to focus on more important issues," said Fico.

Ethnic-Hungarian SMK vice-chairman Laszlo Szigeti said after a session of the parliamentary education committee on Tuesday that the committee has recommended that MPs should override Gasparovic's veto. According to Szigeti, six members of the committee belonging to Smer and the Opposition voted in favour of the recommendation, while one coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) member voted against, and the LS-HZDS representative was absent.

According to the amendment, place-names in textbooks for ethnic minorities will be stated in both the minority and Slovak languages, but only in cases when the names are deeply-rooted in the language of the ethnic minority concerned. SMK's original proposal was for only Hungarian place-names to be published in textbooks, but Parliament approved an amendment drawn up by its Chairman Pavol Paska (SMER-SD) that states that the official Slovak equivalents should be added in brackets or following a slash.

The amendment was approved by 107 MPs on December 3. President Ivan Gasparovic vetoed it, however, recommending that MPs should not approve it a second time. If Parliament overrides the president's veto, the amendment will come into force as of April 1.