Anti-Hungarian Slovak Foreign Minister Gets His Reply from Budapest

Tensions are tangible among the Visegrad 4 members as several recent provocative remarks from the newly appointed Slovak foreign minister earn him a not-so-unexpected rebuke from a member of the Hungarian government.

Rastislav Kácer, a former ambassador to Hungary, is known for his strong aversion towards the government of Viktor Orbán, something that he has made unequivocally known during his early departure from his post. Just after leaving Budapest, in an interview for a Slovakian paper in 2018 he has called the democratically elected Hungarian government autocratic and claimed that the Hungarian prime minister is projecting himself as a prophet, statements that many regarded as a violation of the basic tenets of diplomacy.

Kácer has in the past falsely accused the conservative Hungarian government of contemplating the seizure of Slovakia, or parts of it, and joining them to Hungary. For this he was reported to the police for spreading alarmist news. More recently he has given a number of interviews to Polish or Slovakian papers where as a foreign minister he accuses the Hungarian government of being Moscow’s Trojan horses in the EU.

Tamás Menczer, the Hungarian state secretary for communications and international representation, has reacted to what he called the “constant provocations of the Slovak Foreign Minister” on his social media platform by saying:
“Rastislav Kácer has demonstrated many times – as a think tank leader, ambassador and foreign minister – that he does not like Hungarians. We regret this, but we take note of it.
However, we will not sit up to his provocations, we will preserve the strength of the V4 alliance, and Rastislav Kácer cannot destroy it.
The Hungarian Government always acts in accordance with Hungarian interests, we are on the side of peace, we want an immediate ceasefire and peace, even if Rastislav Kácer does not like it”, closes his statement Tamás Menczer.

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