The spokesman of the European Commission has not interpreted correctly last week’s diplomatic incident between Hungary and Slovakia, the parliamentary group leader of the ruling Socialist party said on Tuesday.
Speaking in public TV’s morning programme “Napkelte” Attila Mesterhazy responded to EC spokesman on duty Michael Mann who had said on Monday that the EU considered Slovakia’s denial of entry to Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom a bilateral issue.
The spokesman’s statement, in Mesterhazy’s opinion, indicated that the EU sought to stay away from conflicts of this kind.
Mesterhazy said Slovakia had created an unworthy situation for the Hungarian president and urged a coordinated position to be expressed by the Hungarian side.
President Laszlo Solyom had been invited to Komarno, S Slovakia, by a local civic committee to attend the unveiling ceremony of a statue of Saint Stephen, Hungary’s state-founding king, on August 21. He turned back on the bridge connecting the two countries after having been told by the Slovak Foreign Ministry that his participation in the ceremony posed a security risk.
