“Hungarian-Slovakian relations must be placed on a foundation of mutual respect”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI following a meeting with his Slovakian counterpart Miroslav Lajčák on Thursday in Washington.

Mr. Szijjártó said he and the Slovakian Foreign Minister had agreed that relations between the two countries must be placed on a foundation of mutual respect, and that the Hungarian national minority represents a resource in this. The talks took place on the sidelines of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers held in Washington to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the alliance, after it became known that on 27 March Slovakian Parliament adopted a legislative amendment based on which the national anthem of another country can only be sung in Slovakia if an official delegation from the given country is present.

Mr. Szijjártó said he had spoken about the issue with Chairman of the Slovakian Hungarian Community Party József Menyhárt, and with the parliamentary fraction leader of the country’s smallest coalition party, the Most-Híd (Bridge) party, Tibor Bastrnák.

“We are collecting data, monitoring events and gathering information on the precise legal consequences, and in accordance with the information currently available a reassuring solution to the situation could soon come about”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

According to local observers, the primary goal of the amendment, which comes into force on 15 May, is to prevent the singing of the Hungarian national anthem at sporting events. According to the law, violating the regulations could bear with it a fine of up to 7 thousand euros.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)