New language law of Fico's culture minister would ban using Hungarian at post offices and in rail transport

The Hungarian-language Slovakian daily Napunk.sk has obtained the yet unpublished draft law of the Slovak Ministry of Culture, which would tighten the use of the Hungarian language in several points, they write in their article.

According to the draft law, the Slovak text must appear first on all commemorative plaques, signs and advertisements, and in the case of public signs and advertisements, in larger letters – there has been no such law in the past, it's been allowed to place the Hungarian text first in Hungarian settlements.

In addition, the use of Slovak will be made mandatory in the post offices, on the railways and other means of transport, where the use of minority languages is not even listed as an option.

The scope and the level of fines for breaching the law will be drastically increased, from €50 to €2500, with the Ministry being able to impose fines ranging between €1,000 and €10,000 (for private entrepreneurs) or €15,000, and the maximum fines for repeated violations would range between €12,000 and €20,000.

According to János Fiala-Butora, a lawyer and human rights expert, this tightening is much more drastic than the version adopted by the first Fico government in 2009, and even contains stricter elements than the original 1995 version drafted by the anti-Hungarian Mečiar government.

It was revealed in mid-October that Slovakia's far-right Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová was planning to tighten the country's language law. Reacting to the news at the time, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that "the Hungarian government is keeping a close eye on possible amendments to the Slovak language law with the clear expectation that there should be no regression in the field of minority rights".