OSCE High Commissioner discusses national minority issues in Hungary and Slovakia

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek visited Hungary and Slovakia from 8 to 11 October 2012 to discuss bilateral issues between the two countries related to national minority matters, including citizenship.

Vollebaek met Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi and Deputy State Secretary for Hungarian Communities Abroad Zsuzsanna Répás, among other representatives of the Government of the Hungarian Republic, as well as civil-society representatives in Budapest. He discussed interethnic relations in Hungary, and the new legislative and institutional framework for the protection of national minorities in the country.

Vollebaek then travelled to Slovakia via Komárno and Blahova-Sarret, where he met representatives of the local administrations and of minority communities. In Bratislava, the High Commissioner discussed matters related to national minorities with Prime Minister Robert Fico, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák as well as other representatives of the Government of the Slovak Republic.