Szijjártó: Slovakia won’t restrict use of native language for Hungarian minority

"Today I received clear confirmation from the Speaker that the potential new language legislation will not pose any threat to the use of the mother tongue for the ethnic minorities living on the territory of Slovakia," Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Bratislava on Monday, according to the state news agency, MTI. The minister held talks on language rights with Slovakian's Speaker of the House Peter Ziga, who said that Robert Fico's government regards the Hungarian community as a resource.

The Foreign Minister said that when it comes to matters of nationality, it is "best to prevent trouble", adding that negotiations with the Slovak government are currently going in the right direction. Szijjártó said that he hoped that no further action would be necessary on this matter, adding that Peter Ziga's promise was a serious guarantee for this, as the Slovak politician always keeps his word. Peter Ziga has confirmed that they have no intention to change the current legislation on the rights of ethnic minorities.

Péter Szijjártó's talks in Slovakia were announced last week by the minister's spokesperson, after the Slovak Ministry of Culture floated the idea of stricter regulations on the use of national minority languages. According to the ministry's draft law, the use of Slovak would have been made mandatory at post offices, on trains and other forms of public transport, and all memorial plaques, signs and advertisements would have had to include the Slovak text first, and with a larger font in case of public signs and advertisements. In addition, the fine for violating the language law would have been significantly increased.

It was revealed in mid-October that Slovakia's far-right culture minister Martina Šimkovičová was planning to tighten the country's language law. Reacting to the news at the time, Péter Szijjártó said: "the Hungarian government is keeping a close eye on possible amendments to the Slovak language law with the clear expectation that there should be no regression in the area of minority rights".