Lendava
Slovenia's Hungarian minority center with constitutional veto rights; oil extraction gave way to thermal tourism and cross-border development zones.
Lendava is where Slovenia becomes Hungarian. The town serves as center for the 6,200 Hungarians remaining in Prekmurje—a minority whose rights are enshrined in Slovenia's constitution, including a dedicated parliamentary seat with veto power over legislation affecting their community. The architect Imre Makovecz designed the Hungarian Community Centre, its organic forms announcing cultural distinctiveness.
The economy once extracted oil. The local football club still carries the name Nafta (oil in Slovenian). When test wells drilled for petroleum near Moravske Toplice in the 1960s found thermal springs instead, the region pivoted from hydrocarbons to hot water. Tourism and culture now employ more than extraction ever did.
Cross-border integration intensified after both countries joined the EU. Slovenia and Hungary now invest €5 million annually each into a joint development program (2022-2026) for Prekmurje and Hungary's Rábavidék. The regions function increasingly as a single economic zone, with labor and capital crossing what was once a closed border. The Hungarian population continues declining—from 14,000 in 1920 to 6,200 today—but infrastructure investments suggest both governments want the minority sustained.
By 2026, Lendava will likely remain Slovenia's window into Pannonian Hungary: constitutionally protected, economically challenged, symbolically significant. The town demonstrates how successor states manage inherited minorities—not through assimilation, but through institutionalized accommodation that converts potential friction into diplomatic asset.