Organization: CSAV UTIA
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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.mideur-l
Date:         Tue, 12 Jan 1993 08:13:43 EDT
From:         Richard Budd <BUDD@CSPGAS11.BITNET>
Subject:      Report from E. Slovakia - December 30, 1992

To the recipients of SLOVAK-L and MIDEUR-L:

Kral'ovsky Chlmec, Slovakia, December 30, 1992

With the exception of four days spent in Prague related to my
work and residence permit, I have been in Slovakia since December
7.  Much of the time has been spent travelling and staying with
people met through either E-mail or on my bicycle tour of two
years ago.  In the past three weeks I have been in Kral'ovsky
Chlmec, Trebisov, Kosice, Bardejov, Strba, Liptovsky-Mikulas, and
ski resorts in the High and Low Tatras and have talked on the
telephone with Bratislava.  What follows is certainly not a
scientific survey of opinion in Slovakia.  Though I have stayed
with two Slovak families, most of my time has been spent with the
Hungarian minority in Slovakia.  At the same time, I have had to
rely upon some "hearsay" evidence, since I know about twenty
words in Slovak.  Also, all my time has been spent in either East
or Central Slovakia; I only have one telephone conversation to
Bratislava to offer, and have little idea what are the thoughts
of people in West Slovakia and Bratislava about independence.
What I can offer is a fairly neutral perspective (I have neither
Hungarian nor Slovak relatives and have good friends in both
ethnic groups) not too colored by the reports coming out of
Praha.  I lead you to decide whether you believe what I am
reporting is accurate.

My first two observations, and it is pretty consistent the whole
time I have been here, are that anyone with a professional
background or a degree of higher education (gymnasium or
University) believes the division of the country is stupid and
that Vladimir Meciar will destroy the country before he is driven
from power.  National feeling is somewhat stronger in the
mountains of Central Slovakia, witnessing the 'SO' labels on the
cars and the stickers for independent Slovakia (almost all
written in English as well as Slovak, suggesting a foreign
origin).

The perception of Slovakia's future is that it would turn into a
nationalistic dictatorship, like Romania rather than a
battlefield such as Yugoslavia.  However, one statement from one
of the few nationalists I met is of little comfort.  A young man,
about 20, from a village in Central Slovakia told me in Kosice
that "now that we have gotten rid of the Czechs, we must get rid
of the Hungarians."  A story that Slovakia, Romania, and
Yugoslavia are talking about a military alliance against the
Magyar threat (related in Sarospatak and thus subject to bias),
does not make the position of the Hungarian minority any more
secure.  This is a tragedy, because earlier this month I attended
a ribbon-giving ceremony at the gymnasium in Kral'ovsky Chlmec.
One of the two Slovak language classes scheduled to graduate in
1993 received green ribbons in a formal ceremony followed by some
comedy skits and a carnival.  The Hungarian students
congratulated the Slovak students on receiving their ribbons.  I
noted some of the Slovak-language students had Hungarian names.
There appeared to be no tension between Hungarians and Slovaks
here on the surface.  However, the Hungarians are worried they
will become the scapegoats of Slovakia's economic failures.
Almost everyone I have listened to in Slovakia are pessimistic
about the economic future of the country.  The most immediate
concern is inflation.  There is temptation that the Meciar
government, no longer obligated to follow the tight money
policies of the federal government, will turn on the printing
presses to pay off the population making the new money worthless.
American dollars and German marks are becoming a commodity again.
I have been getting crowns by changing dollars and marks with the
families who have been accommodating me.  Educated people believe
the Meciar economic program has no chance to succeed.  Part of
the reason would be the location of the country far from many of
the markets in Western Europe.  The industry of Czechoslovakia is
concentrated in the Czech republic as well as all of the black
coal.  Another reason is that the government has returned many of
the Communist bureaucrats to their positions they held before the
1989 revolution, especially managing the economy and the
communications media.

Meciar and his government would not survive an election if it
were held in the first months of the new government without
finding an issue that will galvanize the mass of the electorate.
The feeling here is that the Hungarian threat, real or imagined,
will be the issue.  This impression I received in Bardejov, which
has no significant Hungarian population, as well as in Kral'ovsky
Chlmec.

There are Americans out here in the small towns of East Slovakia
who are working to improve the economic and social condition of
the Slovaks.  One man with whom I spent lunch while in Bardejov,
is a retired American diplomat who since 1990 has been teaching
English and helping Bardejov develop into a tourist center.  Some
of the opinions expressed above came out of long conversations
with him.  He complains about increasing corruption within the
Slovak government and says he is becoming increasingly
pessimistic that Slovakia will evolve into a full democracy or
that economic prosperity will come there soon.  My own impression
is some educated talent will leave Slovakia for the Czech
Republic.  A young man from Martin whom spoke to me on the train
from Prague to Bratislava last month told me he plans to take up
residence in Bohemia in order to finish his education at the
Charles University and to obtain a rewarding job and career when
he leaves the university.   He tells me other Slovaks are
thinking and talking of doing the same thing.  They just do not
see a future in Slovakia.  The last thing the Meciar government
needs as it tries to build a Slovak economy is a brain drain, but
short of sealing the borders, there is nothing much the
government can do about it.

The perception among many Slovaks are the Germans are their only
friends.  Bratislava is rapidly becoming a satellite of Vienna.
Earlier this year, the Slovak government signed an agreement
tying Bratislava and its suburbs into the Viennese transport
system (Wiener Schnellbahnnetz).  In the High Tatra ski resort of
Strbiske Pleso, fully two-thirds of the automobiles had German
license plates from equally western and eastern cities (East
German cars now have West German plates: DD is Dresden, PIR is
Pirna, L is Leipzig, G is Gera, WIS is Wismar, etc.) and German
could be heard everywhere (I speak and understand German).  Part
of this reflects the economic status of most Slovaks; they tended
to congregate at the less expensive resorts in the Low Tatras.
What may wind up happening is the Slovaks trade one "dominating"
ethnic group, the Czechs, for another, the Germans; a nationality
with less incentive for reforming the economic and political
condition of Slovakia.

For George Frajkor, I paint a pretty pessimistic picture of
Slovakia.  It's a wonderful country and I have spent memberable
times here in the last two years.  My own belief is that the
solutions to the economic and social problems of Central Europe
lie not in breaking the region up into smaller and smaller
countires, but rather in uniting them into a federation of
sovereign states, much on the Swiss or 19th Century American
model.  Austria, the Czech and Slovak states, Hungary, Slovenia,
Croatia, and possibly western Romania united in a loose
federation would provide the population, resources, and economy
to compete with Germany and to become part of the European
Community.  When the idea of a neo-Habsburg state first came up
on MIDEUR, I think Hugh Agnew brought it up, but could be wrong;
I threw it out as unreasonable.  However after spending some time
here, I believe a "Habsburg state without the Habsburgs" is the
best chance the region has for full integration with the Western
word.  Throughout the past several weeks, I have thrown out this
question to the families I have stayed with and to some of the
people I have spoken to during my travels.  Almost no one
believes such a union is possible.  A person from Scotland told
me such a federation would be an industrial power in a matter of
years and his friend, the son of a leading Hungarian politician
(this conversation went on during a one week stay in Budapest in
November) expressed interest in such a federation.

What I would like to do over the next several months on the
forums is put together an outline of a constitution for such a
federation and to open it up for discussion.  Nothing may come of
it, but it would be an educational exercise and may become the
beginning of such a supranational state.  I apologize for going
off on a tangent from my original discussion.  My business is to
provide solutions to problems, albeit computer related ones. I
would be grateful if Hugh Agnew could help me here since his
background on the subject is much more in-depth than my own.

I will have more from Slovakia as I will be celebrating the New
Year here in Kral'ovsky Chlmec.

                                     Richard Budd
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