Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) praised the contributions of ethnic minority cultures in Slovakia at Monday's (January 27) first session of the Government Council for Ethnic Minorities, which Fico chairs, according to Zoltan Kovacs the Government Proxy for Ethnic Minorities on Tuesday.
"In his speech, Prime Minister and Council Chair Robert Fico underlined the need for the council to send an unequivocal signal that Slovakia hasn't forgotten about the tragedy of the Holocaust and has clearly-anchored values. In addition, he [Fico] also pointed to a significant anniversary of the codification of the Ruthenian language," stated Kovacs.
Fico welcomed the recent recognition of the Vietnamese ethnic minority in Slovakia.
The Prime Minister enumerated several steps, taken by his governments, such as the founding of the Ethnic Minorities Culture Support Fund and the improvement of Slovak-Hungarian ties. "He stated that the majority population should familiarise themselves with the culture and traditions of the ethnic minorities, and in turn the minorities should respect the tradition and culture of the Slovak nation," noted Kovacs.
In his most recent social media video Fico is encouraging people to send their suggestions, proposals and comments regarding the amending of the Slovak Constitution, so as to make Slovakia sovereign in issues of culture and ethics. The public is free to send them zmena.ustavy@vlada.gov.sk.
A legislative proposal has already been submitted for comments.
"The goal of the drafted amendment to the Constitution of the Slovak Republic is to amend the issues concerning culture and ethics in such a way, so that they can't be the subject of different interpretations or misuse in political competition," claimed Fico. He added that his amendment is based on constitutional definition of marriage that reflects the traditions and cultural as well as spiritual legacy of Slovak ancestors and shows respect to Slovakia's sovereignty in values-based and cultural issues.
On Monday (January 27), Prime Minister Fico unveiled his proposal to amend the Slovak Constitution, into which he wishes to anchor the recognition of only two genders - man and woman, allow sex change only for serious reasons, ban adoption of children by LGBTQ people and align education programmes with the Constitution. In addition, Fico wants the Slovak Constitution to supersede EU legal commitments and international pacts in values-based issues of culture and ethics.
Source: TASR
