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Madaric: We'll Follow Language Act vis-a-vis Hungarian-only Billboards
Friday 30 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 30 (TASR) - When it comes to the placing of Hungarian language-only election billboards by the ethnic-Hungarian SMK party, the Culture Ministry will proceed in accordance with the State Language Act, minister Marek Madaric told TASR on Friday.
Earlier in the day, SMK representatives said that the deploying of the billboards in selected areas of Slovakia is designed as a protest against the State Language Act.
"If SMK on Slovakia's territory conveys information that is of importance for all citizens only in the Hungarian language, this constitutes not only a case of disdain towards people who don't speak Hungarian, but also disregards their right to receive published information in an intelligible manner," said Madaric.
If SMK intends to use only the Hungarian language to address the Slovak public, then the initiative is the best evidence there is that the recently-approved amendment to the Language Act is justified. "What they criticised most about the State Language Act was that it purportedly restricts them in using the Hungarian language," he added.
Madaric also noted that a refusal to use the Slovak language could be assessed as disloyalty to Slovakia. "What's also possible is that SMK simply detests the Slovak language," he stated.
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