Budapest says Slovakia overreacted to declaration

Laszlo Labody, president of the Office for Hungarians Beyond the Borders, said on July 12 that Slovaks distorted the meaning of the word "autonomy" into a "diabolic" notion, Hungarian media reported. He added that Slovak domestic politics, rather than the declaration, is to blame for the Slovak response. Labody stressed that he does not consider it justifiable to hold a bilateral meeting "simply to clarify the text of the statement." He noted that, in contrast to the Slovaks, Romanians asked Hungarian officials to explain the declaration's meaning and warned against heated responses.