Slovak ambassador in Budapest summoned after Slovak foreign minister says Hungary would have already raised territorial claims had Vladimir Putin succeeded in Ukraine

„If Vladimir Putin had been successful in Ukraine, Hungary would have already raised territorial claims on Slovakia,” Slovak Foreign Minister Rastislav Káčer said on Tuesday during a television broadcast, 24.hu reports.

According to the quoted source, the minister was responding to a question on whether he did not think that Hungarian politics could end up with territorial claims in ten years. According to Káčer, this is already a topical issue today and that is why it is important for Slovakia that Putin does not succeed in Ukraine.

The minister also said he reacted to Viktor Orbán’s wearing a scarf depicting the map os Greater Hungary by saying that „he has a huge intelligence file in his safe” and that he had lived in Hungary for five years and monitored security policy for thirty years. In his view, Orbán’s scarf reflects serious strategic problems.

This is not the first time Káčer has criticised Hungary, but he has never so openly suggested that Budapest poses a security threat, the article says.

Káčer’s statement has shaken OĽaNO (editor’s note: the ruling party in Slovakia. „Ordinary People and Independent Personalities” (Slovak: Obyčajní ľudia a nezávislé osobnosti) is a conservative political party in Slovakia. The anti-establishment party founded in 2011 won the 2020 parliamentary elections on an anti-corruption platform. After coming to power, OĽaNO adopted a generally conservative outlook. The party is led by former Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič. The current incumbent Prime Minister is a member of the party’s presidium).

Party chairman Igor Matovič and MP Gyimesi György criticised Káčer, whom they both compared to Ján Slota, at a joint press conference on Wednesday afternoon. „Káčer is the sober Slota,” Gyimesi said, a statement repeated several times by Matovič. (Editor’s note: Ján Slota is the co-founder and former chairman of the Slovak National Party,[1][2][2] an extremist nationalist party. Slota, as leader of the SNS, entered a coalition with Robert Fico’s Smer in 2006).

According to Gyimesi, the foreign minister spreads fake news and scaremongering when he talks about Hungary as a threat to Slovakia’s territorial integrity. Gyimesi asked the minister to produce the file he is talking about or apologise to Hungary.

Matovič said he was confident that Káčer was wrong in what he said, although he said that even as Slovakia’s ambassador to Hungary, he „behaved in a less than fair way towards the host country”.

„This is a serious accusation against one of our closest partners, with whom we have the longest common border,” said President OĽaNO, who said the foreign minister had pulled out the „Hungarian card” before the elections.

Tamás Menczer, state secretary for bilateral relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening that Europe is facing major crises and that at such times we need sober politicians, and Slovakia’s current foreign minister is not one of them.

„Minister Káčer is basically attacking Hungary because we are pro-peace and anti-sanctions. But we won’t change that, even if Minister Káčer doesn’t like it. Today, I called the Slovak Ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Budapest and told him that what Rastislav Káčer said is unacceptable, nonsensical lies. The Hungarian-Slovak partnership and the V4 alliance can survive figures like Rastislav Káčer,” the Hungarian official said.

Translated from Romanian bu Ovidiu H.