President and PM criticize Hungary’s law on national unity

President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer have jointly criticized the law on national unity recently approved by the Hungarian Parliament. In a joint statement the Czech leaders say that the law belittles the Trianon treaty, which is one of the fundamental agreements establishing the present day European order, and argue that putting it to question may fuel extremism and revive old rivalries in Europe.

The Trianon treaty determined borders in central Europe after WWI. Hungary, part of the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire, lost a major part of its territory, including Slovakia, which united with the Czech lands to establish independent Czechoslovakia in 1918. Many Hungarians still consider the Trianon agreement a wrong inflicted on their country.

Late last month, the Hungarian Parliament passed the law on national unity, establishing June 4th, the day on which the Trianon treaty was signed, as a day of national unity. The country also recently passed a dual citizenship law, escalating fears that it wanted to push for some form of regional autonomy for its minorities in neighbouring states.