On September 12th, 2009 a programme meeting of the new political party МОST – HID was held in Komárno, where, among others, the young Rusyn Mgr. Peter Krajňák, the party’s head for the Prešov region, gave a speech. In order to introduce him on this occasion, we interviewed him briefly.

Peter Krajňák was born in Prešov-Solivar in 1981. He attended the Religious Elementary School of St. Gorazd in Solivar (finished in 1996). After his school-leaving exam at the Secondary School of Forestry in Prešov (2000), he completed a nine-month Military Service at the Reserve Battalion of the Slovak Ministry of Defence in Bratislava. He had a brief part-time job as a warehouse manager. From 2002 util 2007 he studied at the Greek-Catholic Faculty of Theology, Prešov University. Since September 2nd, 2007 he has been teaching a special class at the Elementary School with Kindergarten in the village of Svinia in the Prešov region. In 2007, he was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the local organisation of the Rusyn Revival in Slovakia in Prešov, and in 2009, he became the organisation’s Deputy. His father, JUDr. Peter Krajňák, used to work for the executive committee of the Rusyn Revival in Slovakia and was its spokesman. His uncle is a Greek-Catholic priest in Kamienka near Stará Ľubovňa.

• What attracted you to the MOST – HID party? How did you get to be the party’s regional head?
– I was considering running for membership to the Municipal Council in Prešov as an independent candidate. It was as early as the 2006 election when Fedor Vico and I planned to run for the Municipal Council in Prešov as independent candidates, but, in the end, we did not manage to gather enough valid signatures at the petition, which was why we did not appear on the list of candidates. In the summer, though, the political party Most – Hid was founded and it was its programme that attracted me. At its forefront is Béla Bugár, who is one of those few politicians who has not dirtied his hands with corruption. In the past, he was the head of the MKDH party. When I met him in person, it was his Christian approach that convinced me that this party will be based around Christian principles. I also think highly of Laco Nagy, MP and the party’s deputy who I consider a great friend of Rusyns. The party was founded by politicians of Hungarian nationality; however, their ambition, in opposition to SMK, is to address voters of various nationalities and also bring Slovaks and Hungarians living in Slovakia closer together. Apart from this, there is a high-quality political programme and a team of politicians experienced in the ruling of the state. Híd is a chance to resurrect the faith in politics and politicians. I became the regional head following a proposal by Mr. Marián Straka, the local party chairman, which was confirmed by the party’s national leadership. Parties must be built from the top. After a year, the party will start with democratic elections within its hierarchy. I want to support the party’s development in the Prešov region. Naturally, a lot will depend on the results of the 2010 parliamentary election. The party has an ambition to reach approximately 10 per cent and I sincerely hope Híd will make it.

• How do you plan to realise Rusyn politics by means of Most – Hid?
– My political priority is for people not to live hand to mouth and have well-paid work. Everything else is subsidiary. But, surely, other issues will not be swept under the carpet. At the party’s programme meeting, which was held in Komárno on September 12th, 2009, I talked about topical issues that bother Rusyns. I expressed a view of some current topics; I criticised those Rusyns who live in towns and get assimilated. I also mentioned assimilation of Rusyns with regard to religious services and the ten-year efforts to appoint a new bishop for the Greek-Catholics of the Rusyn “Sui iuris“ Church, as well as the plea of Rusyns to visit the Holy Father in the Vatican that has still not been heard. The fact that in the Greek-Catholic Cathedral in Prešov as well as in some of our parishes, priests are, according to an unwritten law, forbidden to give masses in Rusyn is actually worse than the consequences of the, in the present situation, inappropriately passed language law. I also outlined the problems with Rusyn radio broadcasting and inconvenient times for ethnic magazines on television.
Should I be elected a member of the self-government, I will primarily enforce the education of Rusyn language and literature as a compulsory subject at all elementary and secondary schools in those areas of the Prešov region where Rusyns live. Very soon, there will be billboards in Rusyn in five towns. Some issues can, however, be only influenced from the position of a Slovak MP and by passing the laws in question. Nevertheless, I would also like to be of help from the position of regional head in forming the Act on National Minorities and the Act on the Financing of Ethnic Minorities. I will do my best to support the Institute of Rusyn Language and Culture at Prešov University and to acquire a building for the Slovak National Museum – Museum of Rusyn Culture in Prešov. I will keep convincing my colleagues in the region and county as well as the actual leadership about the needs of Rusyns.
I am convinced that the Most party will indirectly strengthen the position of Rusyns. Again, though, it all depends on the results of parliamentary elections and, consequently, elections for self-governments.