Bratislava, November 18 (TASR) - Ethnic-Hungarian SMK party chairman Pal Csaky said after a meeting with European Parliament Chairman Jerzy Buzek in Bratislava on Wednesday that he believes the "stupid passages of the State Language Act, such as those on imposing fines" won't be applied at least before the general elections next June.

"Mr. Buzek didn't even rule out a possible change of this act, which is good. His demand for a dialogue between the authorities and legitimate representatives of the Hungarian community is also in line with our opinion," said Csaky, adding that he showed Buzek a list of 30,000 signatures by people who aren't happy with the Act.

At the same time, Csaky noted that SMK isn't interested in increasing tension. "If fines begin to be being imposed, it will cause further tension between the Government and the Hungarian community," said Csaky. Deputy Premier for a Knowledge-based Society, European Affairs, Human Rights and Minorities Dusan Caplovic hinted earlier that the Language Act may have a different form in the future.

SDKU-DS chairman Mikulas Dzurinda, who talked with Buzek along with Christian Democrats (KDH) chief Jan Figel prior to Buzek's meeting with Csaky, said that the discussion was focused on values in economy, politics and everyday life. "I expressed certain concerns that populism and the emergence of cheap promises is prevailing in Europe, which leads to huge deficits, indebtedness and deepening imbalances. At some point it will be necessary to pay for this with interests, however," said Dzurinda.

Csaky, when asked why he met with Buzek separately from other leading figures of the Opposition, said that it was based on an agreement with Buzek, as SMK has specific views on the State Language Act.

Buzek said that the Act had been discussed earlier in the day with Prime Minister Robert Fico, and said it may prove necessary to change certain paragraphs of Slovakia's Language Act in the future. "I will be ready to talk about it, but the crucial thing at the moment is for the Slovak Government to maintain a constant dialogue with national minorities," said Buzek.

"We've always been interested in respecting human and minority rights," said Buzek, adding that Slovakia can rely on assistance from the OSCE and the EU Council in this. "There's a need to ensure that this law is applied correctly in practice," he noted.

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