Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian PM, Lajos Ódor calls Viktor Orbán's statements in Tusványos unacceptable

Slovakia's technocratic Prime Minister Lajos Ódor (Ľudovít Ódor in Slovakian) has also described Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's statement in Tusványos in which he referred to Slovakia as "part of the country that was taken from us" as unacceptable, Új Szó reports.

"Any questioning of Slovakia's territorial integrity is unacceptable. Such statements don't benefit bilateral relations and don't help the Hungarian minority in Slovakia either," Ódor said. The Slovak foreign ministry had earlier summoned Csaba Balogh, Hungary's ambassador to Slovakia, to inform him why Orbán's statements were unacceptable for Slovakia.

In his speech at the Tusványos Free Summer University last weekend, the Hungarian Prime Minister criticised the Hungarian minority in Slovakia for its inability to secure parliamentary representation despite constituting around 10% of the country's population. He said that this was a "poor performance" and that "more is needed if people want to work for the homeland in the regions which were taken from us".

The Hungarian ambassador in Bucharest was also summoned to the Romanian foreign ministry on Monday morning. Bucharest was unhappy that Orbán had publicly spoken about the call for restraint that the ministry had sent to him through diplomatic channels ahead of his visit to the country. Orbán's speech in Tusnadfürdő on Saturday was also criticised by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.