Hungary's foreign minister said on Monday her government ought to take "strong measures" to protect minority ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring Slovakia from a rising tide of hostility, Reuters reported. Some half a million ethnic Hungarians live in Slovakia. The beating of a Hungarian woman in August triggered Hungarian demands that Prime Minister Robert Fico distance himself from the the Slovak National Party (SNS) and its leader Jan Slota, which joined the new government after June elections. Fico has condemned all violence, but refused to condemn either the SNS or Slota, who has freqently made anti-Hungarian and anti-Roma statements. "We are facing a dilemma as the escalation of the conflict beyond a certain point is dangerous for those (Hungarians) living there. But if we do not act firmly enough that means abandoning them," Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz said. "As long as there is no willingness to cooperate only strong measures can help," she told parliament's foreign affairs committee, without elaborating. "Because if we cooperate while the other side does not want to cooperate we will appear weak." She added that Hungary ought to review its legislation against xenophobia after the appearance of anti-Slovak banners at recent soccer matches. Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis said on Monday the issue needed to be resolved through dialogue. "We (Slovakia and Hungary) should issue a declaration aimed at calming down the situation," he said in a statement. Bratislava said last week Budapest was over-reacting and urged it to tone down its rhetoric. In the August assault, a Hungarian student was beaten in the Slovakian town of Nitra after she was overheard speaking Hungarian on her phone. The attackers wrote anti-Hungarian slogans on her blouse. Other anti-Hungarian assaults have been reported, and Hungary says they have been made possible by the presence of the SNS in government. Hungarian, Slovak, Polish and Czech foreign ministers will meet in Bratislava on Tuesday. Slovakia was once part of Hungary, which lost two-thirds of its territory and around a third of its population after World War One. After World War Two, Hungarians were expelled from parts of Slovakia and Slovaks from Hungary. Despite the row, there are few signs that ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia feel threatened, according to three mayors' offices contacted by Reuters on Tuesday. "We have not registered any problems for citizens of Hungarian descent with those of Slovak descent, or the other way round," said Eva Hortai, the ethnic Hungarian deputy mayor of Komarno, a town in Slovakia which is 60 percent Hungarian.
