Both Tomas and Groehling Reject Magyar's Statements on Hungary Bordering Itself

(STVR, 'Sobotne dialogy', 6 June) Speaking on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), Labour Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) and opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) leader Branislav Groehling both rejected statements by Hungarian Premier Peter Magyar suggesting that "Hungary borders itself". Tomas recalled that Magyar had used similar rhetoric also during his election campaign. "Hungary borders the sovereign Slovak Republic, whose borders were set by peace treaties, and I'm sorry that the Hungarian premier is starting like this, since all we can wish for Slovakia are good, peaceful neighbourly relations, and this definitely doesn't contribute to them," he said. Groehling described Magyar's statements as his first misstep. However, he pointed out that it was unclear how Magyar meant his remarks. They might have been directed at not recognising borders, but also as a reference to the fact that a sizeable Hungarian minority lives in several countries. "I think this is very unfortunate. We should all respect borders, as we are continuously experiencing it in connection with Ukraine, where we are quite principled, firmly rejecting such statements. So we should also reject this statement, as what Peter Magyar said is not worthy of a European leader," he said. The discussion also covered economic issues. The SaS leader criticised the Labour Ministry for errors in pension forecasts. He thinks that the current government will open the second [capitalisation] pension pillar. "Given how this governing coalition functions and behaves, it is only a question of time when they open the second pillar in order to draw funds," stated Groehling. Tomas strictly rejected this. "We are not going to open the second pillar. I have come up with a solution that should help people for whom the second pillar is not beneficial, but it won't involve opening the second pillar," he claimed. Tomas also advocated the pension forecasts, arguing that they point to errors in records not caused by social-security provider Socialna Poistovna, which citizens can fix in time. ko