US Congressman calls Slovak gov't responsible for anti-Hungarian incidents

Lantos, the ranking Democrat on the US House of Representatives' International Relations Committee, said he would decide by the middle of next week whether to submit a motion to the US House of Representatives denouncing Slovakia for including the Slovak National Party (SNS) in government. He noted that a similar motion had been passed against Austria condemning the inclusion of Joerg Haider's right wing party in government in 2000. Lantos said that during Monday's meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico he had told Fico not to be surprised about recent critical international reactions considering that it had been the prime minister's decision to include SNS in government. Lantos welcomed Fico's promise to apply the principle of zero tolerance in all cases of incitement to hatred. Lantos said football hooliganism in Hungary and the connected anti-Slovak and anti-Semitic expressions were also intolerable. (Mti)