The Hungarian National Minority in Slovenia: Assessment of Protection and Integration after EU Accession

Abstract

The following paper will focus on the issue of the Hungarian minority protection in Slovenia. The first section introduces the Hungarian national minority, its main features and historical evolution. The second one gives a historical view on the practice of minority protection towards Slovene Hungarians, from Communist Yugoslavia to the 'Europeanization' process in the country. Further on, the level of minority protection will be analysed both at theoretical and empirical level: firstly, through the theoretical analysis of the legal status of the Hungarian minority, taking into account five main headings (education, use of language, political participation, cultural life, information and the media); secondly, through the results of a field research carried out among minority members, in order to find out the nature and extent of possible discrepancy between theory and practice. The main research hypothesis is that Slovenia has established a successful model of minority protection in what regards the Hungarians. This statement is to great extent confirmed by the analysis of minority policies and legal provisions and, with some specifications, by the analysis of opinions and feelings of 'qualified witnesses' belonging to the Hungarian community.