Orbán: Hungary, Slovakia seeking success together

The peoples of Hungary and Slovakia “seek mutual respect, they want cooperation and they want to achieve success together,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after talks with Igor Matovic, his Slovak counterpart, in Budapest on Friday.

At a joint press conference after the talks, Orbán thanked Matovic for his gestures towards Slovakia Hungarians, as well as for Slovakia’s cooperation during the coronavirus epidemic.

Hungary is proud of its Slovak minority, Orbán said, noting that the government has quadrupled its state support since 2010.

Referring to upcoming “events of historic significance”, Orbán mentioned the inauguration of a new bridge spanning the river Danube between Komárom and Komarno, three bridges across the Ipoly river and three new road crossings to be completed by 2022, as well as integrating the electric grids of Hungary and Slovakia and significantly increasing the capacity of the two countries’ gas interconnector.

Slovakia’s aim is to ensure that ethnic Hungarians “feel citizens with equal rights”, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said.

Slovakia will promote development of its regions irrespective of the ethnic composition of their population, Matovic said. He added he wished to see “everyone teaching their children their own mother tongue, while they don’t need to fear any drawbacks”.

He said it was “natural” that the Hungarian government was monitoring the situation of ethnic kin in Slovakia.

Concerning the 1920 Trianon peace treaty, Matovic said that “we did not write history, but the future is in our hands”. History cannot be changed, he said, but added that he had met Orbán with the aim of “looking to the future”.

Source: MTI