Local history in minority language

The Slovak parliament has complied with a request made by the Hungarian minority, notwithstanding resistance from the co-ruling right-wing extremist Slovak National Party (SNS): in local history schoolbooks, place names will be given in Hungarian followed by the Slovak designation in parentheses in future. The left-wing daily Pravda commends the decision: "After the lengthy Slovak-Hungarian disputes that were stirred up by extremists on both sides, this step taken by the strongest ruling party [Smer, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico] is a cold shower for the Hungarian nationalists. They have been deprived of their trump card. ... On the other hand Smer may be facing tough times within the coalition, above all with the SNS. But what does populist wrangling matter when the goal is to reduce tensions between two neighbouring states. As we can see, pragmatism has its advantages."

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