The return of the old ghosts? The so-called Beneš Decrees and the European protection of national minorities

Abstract

In the fifth monitoring cycle, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities surprisingly for the first time addressed issues related to the so-called Beneš Deacrees, which severely affected the German and Hungarian minorities in Czechoslovakia in the period immediately after the Second World War. In light of the Advisory Committee’s 2022 Opinion, which invited the Slovak authorities to enter into a dialogue with representatives of the affected national minorities on the possible negative effects of the postwar regulations, this article addresses the substance of the dispute between Slovakia and its Hungarian minority and presents relevant legal aspects in light of current Slovak administrative and judicial practice. The authors make suggestions on how the recommended dialogue could be used to solve the problem