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Foreign Affairs Ministry Familiarises Hungarian Ambassador With Note
Monday 14 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 14 (TASR) - Slovakia's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday invited Hungary's Ambassador Antal Heizer to visit the ministry and familiarise himself with a verbal note that corresponds to Hungary's proposal to organise a meeting of experts to discuss Slovakia's State Language Act this Tuesday in Budapest, Slovak foreign ministry press department director Igor Skocek told TASR on Monday.
The talks should be objective and constructive, but the date (Dec. 15) as proposed by the Hungarian side doesn't meet this expectation; therefore Slovakia has proposed that the meeting take place early next year, said Skocek.
Slovakia is open to discussion within the Mixed Slovak-Hungarian Committee for Ethnic Minorities, and is also ready to continue in co-operation with Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner for National Minorities Knut Vollebaek in affairs pertaining to the implementation of the Act. The original version of the verbal note was delivered to Hungary by Slovak Ambassador Peter Weiss on Friday, reported Skocek.
The Slovak ministry told the Hungarian ambassador that the Government's principles for implementation of the Language Act were drawn up in co-operation with Vollebaek's experts. Vollebaek said that that the principles represent a solid base for implementation of the provisions of the Act, said Skocek.
Even though Hungary isn't supposed to take part in any legislative processes in Slovakia, in keeping with the agreement between Slovak Premier Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart Gordon Bajnai in the Hungarian town of Szecseny in early autumn, Slovakia has devoted a great deal of attention to informing the Hungarians about the amendment to the Act and preparations of instructions for its implementation, said Skocek. He added that the Mixed Committee had four sessions since the meeting in Szecseny, and three of the four sessions were also attended by Vollebaek's experts.
The principles for implementation of the Act are to be dealt with by the Government at its regular session this Wednesday, concluded Skocek.
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