Ziga and Szijjarto Meet to Discuss Slovakia's Language Act Amendment

Bratislava, November 11 (TASR) - Neither Parliamentary Vice-chair entrusted with the powers of House chair Peter Ziga (Voice-SD), nor Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto are concerned that the forthcoming amendment to the State Language Act will in any way reduce the quality of life of the Hungarian national minority living in Slovakia, TASR learnt from their statements after a joint meeting at Bratislava Castle on Monday. Ziga declared that neither the government nor Parliament is interested in changing the 'status quo' in Slovakia's relationship with national minorities, pointing out that the amendment is currently being prepared and when it's ready it'll have to go through an inter-ministerial commentary procedure, and an approval process at the government and Parliament. "I think there will be enough room for discussion to raise issues that would be in some disharmony with how we present our bilateral relations. Thus, I don't think that the quality of life of the Hungarian national minority in Slovakia should be in any way curtailed or reduced," he said. Szijjarto pointed out that he has no reason to distrust Ziga's statements. "The House chair has also said that they aren't interested in adopting a law that would in any way curtail the linguistic rights of minorities and thus reduce their quality of life in Slovakia. So we have no reason to distrust that this won't be respected," he noted, adding that he and Ziga would remain in contact throughout the entire legislative process. am/mcs