Bratislava - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico rejected Wednesday demands by his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsany aimed at easing nationalist tensions between the two historical foes. At a November 15 meeting in Slovakia, Gyurcsany among others asked Fico to allow use of Hungarian textbooks in minority schools, set up an ombudsman for minorities and jointly investigate cases of minority rights violations.
"There is no reason for any adjustments as the legal protection of minority rights is on the European level," the CTK news agency cited Fico as saying.
The meeting, called to calm a recent outburst of tensions between the two central European neighbours, has however failed to thaw icy relations. Slovak and Hungarian officials have made plans for more meetings in a bid to reverse the course.
Fico's lawmakers Wednesday however backed compromise legislation that allows use of both Hungarian and Slovak place names in textbooks for ethnic Hungarian children, another recent sore point between the two nations.
The amendment passed in a 107-13 vote in the 150-seat parliament, while two lawmakers abstained, two did not vote, and 26, mostly junior-governing Slovak nationalists, were absent.
Slovak-Hungarian relations have cooled significantly since the summer of 2006 when Fico formed government with the Slovak National Party led by Jan Slota, a controversial politician who once said he would dispatch tanks on Budapest.
Slota does not have a seat in Fico's three-party cabinet but the move has empowered right-wing extremists in both countries, which resulted in an early wave of extremist acts on both sides of the border.
Relations between the two countries have reached a new low after Slovak police clashed with Hungarian fans at a November 1 football game in mostly Hungarian-populated southern Slovakia.
The incident was followed by protests in Budapest, in which far- right extremists burnt a Slovak flag in front of the country's embassy.
Slovakia had been part of Hungary until the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian empire after the World War I in which Budapest lost more than two thirds of its territory under the so-called Treaty of Trianon.
Ethnic Hungarians, living mostly in the country's south, comprise about one tenth of Slovakia's population.
