Strasbourg, September 14 (TASR) - The Slovak-Hungarian dispute over Slovakia's State Language Act was amongst items discussed in the European Parliament on Monday, with MEPs from the two countries exchanging views on the matter, TASR learnt later in the day.

During his so-called 'one-minute speech', Slovak MEP Sergej Kozlik (LS-HZDS party) pointed out that Hungary and the Hungarian minority living in Slovakia use lies and semi-truths to constantly re-open the issue of ethnic minorities and manipulate the public opinion in the EU.

Boris Zala (Smer-SD party) concurred with Kozlik's view, stressing that in no way does the State Language Act infringe rights of ethnic minorities. According to Zala, Hungarian legislators incite extremism by divulging misleading information, which he called a "very dangerous policy."

Eduard Kukan (SDKU-DS party) called for partner dialogue as a way of seeking solution to the problem.

Hungarian MEPs urged representatives of European institutions not to close their eyes vis-a-vis what's going on in EU-member countries. According to Pal Schmitt, a language that's one of the EU's official languages is being attacked in Slovakia, with the right of a minority to use its language being violated.

Csaba Sandor Tabajdi pointed that the EU has a say when human rights are violated outside the bloc, but keeps tight-lipped when the same occurs in an EU-member country. The Hungarian minority in Slovakia is exposed to discrimination, added Tabajdi.

Neither the Swedish Presidency of the EU nor the European Parliament (EP) are planning to tackle the Slovak-Hungarian conflict. EP chairman Jerzy Buzek said earlier in September that the European Parliament has no powers in this area, with the dispute best resolved at the bilateral level.

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