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| Europe | |
| Hungarian, Slovak premiers to meet over nationalist tensions | |
| 2008-11-12 | |
| BUDAPEST - Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany will meet his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico this weekend in a bid to ease nationalist tensions after recent violence over a football match, officials said Tuesday. Ten days ago Slovak and Hungarian fans clashed during a Slovak premier soccer league match in southern Slovakia. About 50 people were injured, including fans who came to the match from Hungary. The police action against the troublemakers prompted anti-Slovak protests by ultra-nationalists in Budapest. The Hungarian government said the police response was inadequate and asked for an investigation, while Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic backed the police. After talking to members of the Hungarian minority party in Slovakia, Gyurcsany "called on Slovakia's head of government to agree to a meeting," said Hungarian government spokesman David Daroczi. "It is important that the two leaders make it very clear that they reject any radicalism or nationalist extremism," Daroczi added. Fico spokewoman Silvia Glendova told AFP the two prime ministers will meet Saturday in the Slovak-Hungarian border town of Komarno, which is called Komarom in Hungarian. The town is split by the Danube River about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Budapest. It has around 37,000 residents in the Slovak part and 20,000 on the Hungarian side. Slovakia's foreign minister, Jan Kubis, already met Monday in Brussels with his Hungarian counterpart Kinga Goncz, said Glendova, adding that it was an "important step" ahead of the prime ministers' meeting. The historically tense relations between the neighbours soured after the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) joined the left-dominated government coalition in 2006. Its leader Jan Slota is famous for his inflammatory rhetoric against Romas or Hungarians. Relations worsened in September after the publication of Slovak geography textbooks for Hungarian children, which do not include the Hungarian versions of geographical names. The Slovak and Hungarian prime ministers planned official meetings many times, only to postpone them later. The cabinet heads of both countries last met in Budapest in 2001, according to the Slovak government office.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 I could be wrong, but my reading of various local Net forums > SEEMS MANY HUNGARIANS AND SLOVAKS ARE FEARFING THAT INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF MUSLIM KOSOVA, + KOSOVA'S REPORETD DESIRE TO EXPAND ITS TERRITORY will lead to uncontrolled influxes of MUSLIM EMIGRES TO SAME. * PROB > DON'T TRUST THE MAIN HUNGARIAN OR SLOVAK GOVTS TO STOP OR DO ANYTHING AGZ MUSLIM KOSOVA, hence Hungarian and Slovak violence agz each other. IMO THE FOOTBALL MATCH WAS JUST PCORRECT COVER/CATALYST FOR DEEPER MULTI-ETHNIC REGIONAL TENSIONS-FEARS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-11-12 23:58 |