SLOVAKIA’s Foreign Affairs Ministry summoned Hungary’s Ambassador to Slovakia, Antal Heizer, to the ministry on September 17 to convey Slovakia’s outrage over statements made to the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung by the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister, Péter Balázs. Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák also expressed his personal annoyance at the statements which appeared in the newspaper.
Ministry spokesperson Peter Stano said the statements published on September 17 were considered unacceptable. Balázs was quoted as referring to Slovakia as a “younger brother who needs to be taught European manners” and he compared Slovakia to Romania under the Ceausescu dictatorship.
The ministry described the statements made by Balázs as inexplicable, especially following a meeting between the two countries’ prime ministers in the Hungarian town of Szécsény.
The Slovak Foreign Ministry said it is not appropriate for a Hungarian government representative to give lessons on behaviour to a partner country in the European Union. Instead, Lajčák asked that Hungary focus on what the citizens of the two countries, as well the European Union, expect from both countries.
