After the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989, Slovakia aimed to establish a true democracy, cement the rule of law and join the European Union. The new Constitution, passed by Parliament in 1992, begins bravely: “The Slovak Republic is a sovereign, democratic state governed by the rule of law. It is not bound by any ideology or religion”.

However, the country had no democratic model to follow, and after the Slovaks separated from the Czechs, many were persuaded to take pre-Communist Slovakia as the point of reference. This model was the wartime Slovak State of 1939-1945, one of many Fascist regimes of the 1930s and 40s. Today some Roman Catholic prelates regard this as having been an ideal society, where Catholic social doctrine prevailed. For their part, Slovak political parties claiming a “Christian orientation” are using this wartime Axis state as the focus of nationalism and attempting to make a national hero of its president, the Roman Catholic prelate Dr. Jozef Tiso, who was later executed as a war criminal. [1]

In 2003 when Slovakia joined the European Union it was expected that the new nation would make steady progress in terms of democracy. However, a conversation in 1995 between the Slovak Prime Minister, Vladimír Mečiar, and the visiting Pope turned out to be a warning of things to come. Mečiar proclaimed that: "Slovakia could become a model of Church-State relations showing special respect for Christian values". The Pope replied with satisfaction: "This could change the future of the whole of humanity". (Slovenská republika, 8 June 1995)

Since then many events have born out Mečiar’s prediction and given the Catholic Church ever more influence in Slovak society.

1 Generous state subsidies in recent years have enabled the Catholic Church to build some 1000 new churches and other buildings. From 1990 to 1992 alone, 104 new Church schools were constructed. And now, instead of one theological faculty there are five, not to mention a new Catholic university.

2 At the same time, new regulations have made things more difficult for other religious groups. Law 192, passed in 1992, demands unprecedented conditions for registration of new religious communities, such as a petition with 20,000 signatures. [2]

3 Public TV and radio presently air more than 20 regular religious programmes and the Catholic Church has its own broadcasting station. Early this year Slovaks who turned on their radios for the BBC found the Catholic station instead. The BBC had been broadcasting in Slovakia for 60 years and was valued for its news, programmes and help in learning English. However, in January its bandwidth was re-assigned to Rádio Lumen, described by the US Catholic Bishops Conference as "one of the great Catholic Radio success stories in Eastern Europe". [3]

4 That this is not a random pattern is shown by a remarkable document drawn up for the Slovak Conference of Bishops and posted on their website in 2001. Called the “Pastorisation and Evangelisation Plan of the Catholic Church”, it presents a blueprint for Catholicising the whole of Slovak society. Recently translated in its entirety by the author, it makes ominous reading. [4]

Much of the increase in Church influence has been made possible by Slovakia’s three concordats with the Vatican. These are the Basic Treaty, the Concordat on the Armed Forces and the Concordat on Education. [5] Two more treaties with Vatican are pending: one about the Catholic conscientious objection, which was temporarily halted due to criticism by EU legal experts, and the other about funding for the Church.

1 The controversial Education Concordat makes religion or ethics mandatory in Slovak elementary and secondary schools for students aged six to 18 years, (and even in kindergarten, if parental approval can be obtained). Categorising children on religious lines opens the door to social pressure, as a Slovak teacher graphically reports. [6] The Vatican treaty also allows Church schools, co-financed by the state, to edit out course material that conflicts with Catholic doctrine.

2 A future Concordat on Finance will lock in state funding for the Church by means of this “international treaty” which, once ratified, needs Vatican permission to alter. The original aim was to introduce a “church tax” as in some West European countries. The Roman Catholic Church, however, wants to maintain the status quo: an annual subsidy according to “present needs”, which tend to be ever higher.

3 At the beginning of September 2007 the Slovak Ministry of Health announced that it would continue to allow medical personnel to refuse to provide services which contravene Church teaching. [7] Under this “right” to Catholic conscientious objection (it applies to no other kind of scruples, of course), a health care worker can even refuse to provide contraception. The EU pointed out that this could conflict with women’s right to proper health care and this temporarily scuttled the “conscience concordat”. However, now the Slovak Government is enshrining this in national law and the bishops are once more pressing for it to also be cemented in international law through a concordat.

Some European politicians appear to misunderstand what is going on in Slovakia today. They attribute the evident hostility of the Slovak Christian parties as merely an indication of “Euroscepticism”. However, far more is involved here than just unease at surrendering “too much” national sovereignty to the European Union. The antagonism towards the EU runs far deeper than that. For the EU is a bastion of human rights and it stands firm against any erosion of these -- by the Catholic Church or by anyone else.

Revealing remarks about the EU have been made by leading Slovak Christian Democrats, (revealing about the politicians, rather than the EU). For instance, at the General Assembly of the Christian Democrats on 29 April 2004 their Justice Minister, Daniel Lipšic maintained that “Europe must be Christian, or it will cease to exist”. (Cited by Martin Muránsky, Slovo, No.15, 2003). Another example is the denunciation by Interior Minister Vladimír Palko of the report of the European Parliament on “Women and Fundamentalism” (A5-0365/2001), calling it “Euromarxism”. He claimed that what the European Parliament takes for “fundamentalism” is actually “Christianity”, and that therefore the real target of the European parliament is the Christian faith. ( Domino Forum, No. 19/ 2002)

Although Slovakia is a small nation on the fringe of the European Union, its laws are now a part of the EU. Precedents which the Vatican is trying to quietly establish in Slovakia may later spread to other European nations, and this could change the nature of Europe.

Prof. Em. Dr. Alexander Rehák is a member of the Prometheus Society of Slovakia

Further reading in English

[1] Muriel Fraser, “Why Slovakia?”, Concordat Watch. http://www.concordatwatch.eu/kb-1216.843
[2] Martin Dojcar, “The religious freedom and legal status of churches, religious organizations, and new religious movements in the Slovak Republic”, Brigham Young University Law Review, 2001. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3736/is_200101/ai_n8947372
[3] Luba Lesná and Tom Nicholson, “BBC'S radio license yanked for use of English”, Slovak Spectator, 29 January 2007. (Curiously, this describes Rádio Lumen as a “commercial station”.) http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok-26424.html
[4] Slovak Bishops Conference, trans. Alexander Rehák, Pastorisation and Evangelisation Plan of the Catholic Church, 10 May 2001. http://www.concordatwatch.eu/topic-5411.843
[5] Translated texts of all of these can be found at “Slovak concordats and other texts”, Concordat Watch. http://www.concordatwatch.eu/topic-755.843
[6] Paed. Dr. A. B, “A Slovak teacher speaks out on religious education”, Concordat Watch, 29 September 2003. http://www.concordatwatch.eu/kb-1477.843
[7] “Roman Catholic Church Greets Health Ministry’s Change of Mind”, Radio Slovakia International, 18 September 2007. http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?page=showSprava&id=6498&lang=2