Gathering signatures on a petition to force a referendum on creating territorial autonomy in southern Slovakia is the goal of the newly founded civil association called the Southern Council for Self-determination, which was founded at the initiative of Janos Bosza, an entrepreneur from the southern Slovak town of Komarno, at a general meeting in village of Moca, near Komarno, on Saturday. Mr. Bosza informed SITA news agency about plans of the organization.
Goals of the organization that will reside in Komarno, contained in the adopted declaration, include helping win recognition of the right to self-determination for "the southern people" including ethnic Hungarians, Slovaks, and the Roma. According to this organization, this right is contained in international documents. To fulfil their right, the organization wants to hold a referendum with questions "for the people in what political system they want to live". Activity of the association should concentrate on informing people of their right to self-determination, organizing the referendum, and gathering signatures on a petition necessary to hold the referendum.
Mr. Bosza said he does not consider his initiative counterproductive. "We are not going against anyone, not against Slovaks, we will be explaining our goals," he told SITA. "If we were not convinced that this is achievable we would not go for it," he said. As to the borders of the autonomous territory, Mr. Bosza said it does not have to cover the territory of Slovakia that Hungary occupied before the Second World War. "Who does not want to be there will not be there" he said. In his words, the autonomous territory should have its parliament with all powers except for diplomacy and defense.
The founding congress of the organization in the village of Moca brought together about twenty-five people from Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria, among them a university professor and businessmen, who are "interested in getting things moving around autonomy." The opposition Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) that is the political representation of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia did not have its representatives at the event. According to Mr. Bosza, only people from the SMK youth organization attended. At the SMK congress in March, Mr. Bosza tried to gather signatures for his petition for autonomy, which thirteen people signed. The mayor of the village of Moca, Alexander Asboth, described the event organized by Mr. Bosza as a provocation. He further said for SITA that the village administration and the mayor were not in any way involved in the initiative and had not been informed of its preparation.
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