Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said the reaction of the “foreign office bureaucrats” in Bratislava to events at the Hungary-Slovakia FIFA EURO 2020 qualifier is excessive and hysterical, speaking on Hungarian M1 television’s Friday morning current affairs program.

The Minister stressed that he had watched the match with Speaker of Slovakian Parliament Andrej Danko, who after the final whistle had given an “honourable” interview in which he praised Hungarian-Slovakian cooperation and the atmosphere at the event. Mr. Szijjártó said that in his opinion, similarly to the country’s political leaders, Slovakian foreign office bureaucrats should be concentrating on making Central European cooperation as effective and close as possible. The Hungarian Foreign Minister said that fair play and respect for sporting opponents is important to him, adding. “If I summoned the Slovakian Ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs every time Slovakian fans behave disrespectfully towards the Hungarian people, Hungarian sportspeople or the Hungarian nation, the Slovakian Ambassador would be perpetually there in the Ministry”.

(MTI)