The European Commission agreed with Hungary in so far as Slovakia had mistakenly referred to community guidelines when it denied Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom entry in August, Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Zsuzsanna Matrai told MTI on Wednesday.
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, having been told by the Slovak Foreign Ministry that his participation in the ceremony posed a security risk.
Receiving the EC’s answer to its complaint about the Slovak action on Wednesday, Hungary is prepared to continue the infringement procedure and turn to the EU Court of Justice, she said.
The European Commission reaffirmed that free movement is a fundamental right of the European Union, the spokeswoman said.
The EC raised it as a question how the EU rules should apply to a president wishing to enter another EU member state. In line with the EU acquis, the commission did not analyse the details but called attention to the international legal aspects of the issue, Matrai said, adding that Hungary was evaluating the commission’s legal arguments.
“Hungary maintains its position that the decision to deny Solyom entry to Slovakia was incompatible with the EU norms and their spirit,” Matrai said.
Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said on Wednesday that Slovakia viewed the whole affair as closed. The minister interpreted the EC letter sent to Hungary as saying that Slovakia didn’t violate any Schengen or EU rules when it denied Solyom entry to the country in August.
Matrai said, however, that the Slovak interpretation distorted the original meaning of the letter.
