Slovakia has indicated its readiness to participate in talks on the enforcement country's language law at expert level with the participation of a representative from the United Nations, a Hungarian government official told Monday's Nepszabadsag daily.

The development, reported to the paper by Ferenc Gemesi of the Prime Minister's office, is "surprising and positive" given that Slovakia had earlier ruled out talks with the UN's minorities' commissioner taking part, said Nepszabadsag.

The planned three-way talks are expected to take place later this month, said the paper.

The foreign ministers of Hungary, Slovakia and Sweden held a consultation on tensions between the two Central European nations on the sidelines of an informal conference of EU foreign ministers in Stockholm on Saturday.

On behalf of the Swedish EU presidency, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt "is following with keen interest what is currently the biggest conflict between two member states," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Balazs told MTI.

Balazs and his Slovak counterpart Miroslav Lajcak was going ahead with preparations for a meeting of the two countries' prime ministers, scheduled to take place in Szecseny, N Hungary, on September 10.

In an article published in Slovak papers SME and Uj Szo, Hungary's prime minister, Gordon Bajnai, sought to smooth tensions but at the same time gave warning that the two countries' relations must not be held hostage to extremism on either side of the border.

"We respect Slovakia's sovereignty and territorial integrity under all circumstances [...] There are stupid people in every country and groups with an extremist outlook which question [European values]," he wrote.