Milan Vetrák: “I also want to pay attention to the issues of migration and education, and those of voting from abroad”

He intends to rearrange the Office and to introduce new rules for granting subsidies to Slovaks living abroad. He does not disregard the currents problems of compatriots either, such as voting from abroad or education.

What environment did you find yourself in once appointed chairman of OSLA? 

When giving an interview to another periodical of compatriots, I cheerfully noted that not long ago the Office moved to its old new premises at Radlinského 13 in Bratislava, in which its operation originally commenced. At first I had to look for a chair to sit on at the presiding table. Former management of OSLA actually placed me, when handing over the Office, in a storeroom with no telephone, computer, furniture or any other basics required for the proper execution of my office.

One of your declared priorities for 2011 is also a reorganisation of the Office. How do you manage to remove mistakes of the former management?

As often is the case with other people’s mistakes, many of them may not, even with the best endeavours, be carefully redressed. What has been missed is difficult to catch up on. The first chair of the OSLA which came into existence on January 01, 2006, had the opportunity and obligation to enter the modern history of care for Slovaks living abroad through conceptual measures. While holding her Office, she unfortunately often refused to cooperate with long-term experts in the field of compatriots. Of various obligations of the Office, she first focused on presentation and social events, while significant tasks – entrusted by the Government of the Slovak Republic to OSLA – were left aside. Without the particular assistance and conceptual support of the Slovak Republic, communities of compatriots are threatened by a loss of national consciousness and cultural identity. 

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You have also advised of rule changes for the granting of subsidies to Slovaks living abroad. Was the present system non-functional?

I will give my opinion of the worst weak points in a figurative fashion. I would compare the way the former management managed the Office to a detached house. There are your own valuables, but you still leave the door open. Although I only entered the house as the new chairman, I closed and locked the open door. Besides that, there are proceedings conducted by other offices at OSLA and I am waiting for the results. In the course of just a few days I have found that there were no rules in place at the Office to clearly establish criteria for granting subsidies. Subsidies were granted without any directive adopted and available to the public. Even the contracts themselves concluded upon granting subsidies, as well as criteria for the assessment and selection of projects and applications for subsidies, are problematic.

What are your priorities for the five-year term of office? 

As soon as the upcoming period it will be necessary to clearly determine rules for Slovak-Slovak relations. No such concept has been elaborated so far. There was just mentioned state care as referred to under the Concept of Care of the Slovak Republic for Slovaks Living Abroad until 2015. This is too little. We need to define both short-term and long-term priorities. Besides keeping the traditional signs of life of Slovak communities abroad, we must also pay attention to the young generation which in the present period of globalization loses interest in the cultural and spiritual heritage of its nation, and in a foreign environment faces assimilation. Well-considered state policy to perceive their current interests and needs such as education in their mother tongue, possibilities of studies in Slovakia, and acquainting themselves personally with the environment of their ancestors, or doing so at least through television and radio may be helpful.

The issues of Slovaks living abroad does not, however, only concern the operation of your Office, but is interlinked with many fields of activities at the level of self-government and civil administration. Which institutions are and should be partners of OSLA?

I do realize that the efficiency of care for Slovaks living abroad may only be increased by qualified operation of the Office in close cooperation with the government departments concerned, in the first place with the ministry of foreign affairs, ministry of the interior, ministry of labour, social and family affairs, ministry of transport within the framework of which there is Section of Tourism, ministry of education or ministry of culture. We will seek consultation and organisational assistance from expert organisations of government departments. Cooperation with civil associations active in the field of Slovaks living abroad, and in the area the issues of current migration of the citizens of the Slovak Republic will compared to the present situation be substantially intensified. 

What position within the framework of such cooperation will be held by the most important Slovaks living abroad? 

I naturally perceive cooperation with Slovaks living abroad as my priority. They represent creative, economic, diplomatic, intellectual and other potential which has scarcely been used so far. We will sensitively perceive their position and we will try to help them solve their current problems. The problems include issues such as migration, education and school system, or those connected with voting from abroad and which concern those citizens who, despite having Slovak citizenship, live abroad. What we would like to do within the framework of our possibilities is to support activities of our partners in the field of tourism and the promotion of Slovakia abroad.  We would like to do this through our compatriots living abroad. Cooperation with offices abroad, in the first place those countries in which numerous communities of Slovaks live and the operation of which is similar to OSLA is also expected. In the first place I mean institutions in member states of the European Union. Cooperation with associations established at the pan-European or world level such as ETTW – Europeans throughout the World, or the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) is also available.

Author: T. Juraskova, D. Mikolaj
Photo: USZZ

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