| Foreign Minister Kinga Göncz on Thursday summoned Slovakia’s ambassador to Hungary Juraj Migas. At a brief meeting, Ms Göncz asked him to explain Slovak remarks over the past few weeks deemed by the Hungarian side to be unacceptable and incomprehensible, given the two countries’ shared democratic values and their membership of the European Union and NATO. Ms Göncz noted that the Slovak side had failed either to meet an earlier commitment to guarantee the status quo for minorities or to include the Hungarian version of place names in Slovak textbooks, as earlier promised. Ms Göncz voiced Hungary's resentment over the fact that Hungarian schools in Slovakia had hardly received any EU funding granted to Slovakia for educational purposes, which she said violated the European Union’s policy of anti-discrimination. The minister also objected to the concerted attacks against the Forum of Ethnic Hungarian MPs from the Carpathian Basin and the leader of the Slovak Hungarian Coalition Party Pál Csáky. She noted that none of the other neighbouring countries had raised any objections to the Forum of Hungarian MPs from the Carpathian Basin. Ms Göncz said that Prime Minister Robert Fico bore political responsibility for the parties in his government's coalition. The remarks of certain politicians in the Slovak coalition fell within the classification of hate speech, she added. The Slovak Prime Minister is also responsible for the formation of a climate where the young generation is exposed to ideas embracing hatred against Hungarians. She added that Prime Minister Fico must take general political responsibility for Slovakia’s relations with Hungary. Ms Göncz requested an answer from Slovakia as to whether these tendencies formed a part of Bratislava’s official agenda. She added that she expected the Slovak side to give an explanation for the above questions before the end of next week. Further diplomatic steps would be considered in light of that answer, she added. (October 2, 2008) |