Political parties that weren't founded in compliance with Slovak or European law will be banned from operating in Slovakia, according to the newest change to the Political Parties Act passed on Thursday. The amending proposal was conceived in response to Istvan Szavay, vice-chair of the Hungarian extremist opposition party Jobbik, who on October 14 opened his MP office in Dunajská Streda (Trnava region), with some three out of four people of Hungarian nationality. "It's appropriate and necessary to respond instantly and resolutely to any form of provocation in order to make it clear that we won't accept such behaviour in Slovakia - regardless of what country this comes from", said Parliament's Speaker Peter Pellegrini. If political parties are not founded in compliance with domestic or EU law, they are banned from running any activities in Slovakia. Furthermore, they could face fines from €600 to 3,500 for violating the law.
Both the Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini and Prime Minister Robert Fico called upon Szavay to shut down his MP's constituency office. However, Szavay refused to do so. "As a member of the Hungarian Parliament, I pledged to represent the interests of all Hungarians", said Szavay, referring to an ethnic Hungarian community that makes up some 9 percent of the total population of Slovakia.
