Slovakia fears extremism in Hungary after EU vote

(BRATISLAVA) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Monday he was afraid of rising extremism after neighbouring Hungary's far-right Jobbik party won three seats in the European Parliament elections.

"It is bad. The party which openly speaks about autonomy (of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia) and promotes the most extreme-right and extremist opinions will cause great instability in this region," Fico said.

"The Hungarian voters have made their choice. We can't interfere in their choice, therefore we have to get ready for extremes that will originate from these positions and we will react to them appropriately," Fico added.

"It would be even worse if Jobbik succeeded in the upcoming general election in Hungary (due 2010)," he said.

Jobbik -- which means "better" in Hungarian -- came third after the opposition centre-fight Fidesz party and ruling Socialists, winning three seats with 14.74 percent of the vote under its slogan "Hungary for Hungarians!"

It calls for the re-establishment of a Greater Hungary, reincorporating regions that were cut from its territories after World War I.

Slovakia, part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, was administered from Budapest before the monarchy collapsed at the end of WWI.

Historically tense relations between Hungary and Slovakia took a hit when the Slovak National Party (SNS) joined the Slovak governing coalition in 2006.

In Slovakia, the ruling left-wing party led by Fico won the elections and its junior coalition partner, the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party known for inflammatory rhetoric against Roma and Hungarians, picked up its first-ever seat in the European Parliament amid one of the lowest turnouts in Europe.