Support for the ethnic Hungarian minority in Slovakia has been an important topic in Slovak-Hungarian bilateral relations. More recently, the Hungarian government has intensified its support for its kin minorities, providing financial assistance to certain municipalities based on recommendations from the Hungarian Standing Conference. One of the conference’s members is the Slovak ethnic Hungarian party, Szövetség – Aliancia. This paper examines the role of Szövetség – Aliancia in allocating the annual funding from the Bethlen Gábor Fund to 67 selected Slovak municipalities in 2023. Using multiple methods, the paper makes use of a database containing various municipal-level variables, including local political representation, to analyse the impact of party affiliation through regression analysis. Additionally, the study incorporates a dummy variable to verify payment information collected directly from municipalities under the Freedom of Information Act. The findings are discussed within the context of a comprehensive literature review that applies securitization theory to the role that kin minority support conditions bilateral relations in Central and Eastern Europe. The results of the analysis indicate that the ethnic party affiliation has become a less significant factor as Szövetség – Aliancia remains outside parliament, with the Hungarian government prioritizing other topics of common interest when negotiating with the Slovak government despite the increase in funding.
