Ms. Gabriella Jarábiková, General Director, Section of Minority Culture

Mr. Adrián Tokár, Program Officer, Center for Legal Analyses-Kalligram Foundation

The aim of the seminar was to enhance professional discussion among various professionals from the state administration, NGOs and political party experts on the trends and possibilities of financing of minority culture in order to find out the possible trend for Slovakia.

Gabriella Jarábiková outlined the possibilities and working plan of the Section of Minority Culture of the Ministry of Culture emphasizing the good practices of the recent structure of dividing the finances among different minorities developed by the Section. Ms. Jarábiková call upon the necessity of the linking the financing for minorities directly to the state budget to avoid the every-year-fight in the government and the parliament around the issue.

Adrian Tokár reported about the material elaborated by the Center for Legal Analyses-Kalligram Foundation in order to open the discussion.

During the discussion the participants mainly “voted” for the third alternative elaborated in the CLA-Kalligram`s working paper. The biggest challenge remains to ensure the support extended to minority culture through providing stable financial funding therefore reducing to the minimum extent possible political meddling on the part of state administration. In addition to ensure the dividing of the state support by the minorities and to set up the key among the 11 minorities in Slovakia is another crucial question.

CLA-Kalligram will develop the working paper and elaborate steps in order to achieve the strategic goal. The different opinions of the discussion will be incorporated into the new concept and the participants will be kept informed about the development and will be asked to consult the final paper.

Ágh, András, Embassy of Hungary

Bárdos, Gyula, MP, Leader of the Parliamentary Club of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK)

Bezáková, Katarina, Section of Human and Minority Rights, Office of the Slovak Government

Bolemantová, Eva, Ministry of Culture

Cvecko, Juraj, Cultural Association of Croatians in Slovakia

Gyuricsek, Piroska, Section of Human and Minority Rights, Office of the Slovak Government

Jarábik, Balázs, Center for Legal Analyses-Kalligram Foundation

Jarábiková, Gabriella, Ministry of Culture

Kolár, Péter, Director, Thália Theater, Kosice (Hungaruian langage theater)

Nagy, László, Chairman, Human and Minority Rights Committee, Slovak National Council

Medár, Alojz, Director, Legal Department, Ministry of Culture

Merva, Tamás, Csemadok, Cultural Association of Hungarians in Slovakia

Mészáros András, Head of the Faculty of the Hungarian Language and Literature, University of Comenius, Bratislava

Popovcová, Ministry of Finance,

Pukalovicova, Ministry of Finance

Prikler, Lidia, Kalligram Foundation

Tokár, Adrián, Center for Legal Analyses-Kalligram Foundation

Szigeti, László, Director, Kalligram Publisher House, Advisor to Deputy Speaker of the Slovak National Council