Slovaks no longer view Hungary as a threat

Hungary isn't viewed as a dangerous country by Slovaks anymore, says a survey carried out by the Slovak Academy of Sciences' (SAV) Sociological Institute. Academy's researcher Miloslav Bahna draws attention to the score of Hungary, which was viewed by as much as 40 percent of Slovaks as a dangerous country back in 1996. In 2014 only 5 percent viewed it in such terms. "It's a cardinal shift that may be related to the current above-standard relations between the political representations of the two countries. Nevertheless, it appears that it also has much to do with a more lasting retreat from the feelings of danger and political turbulence related to the setting up of the state [of Slovakia in 1993] and the internal struggle concerning the overall direction of the country in the 1990s," says Bahna. The Slovak-Hungarian political party Most-Híd believes that this result has a lot to do with a change in the overall political climate in Slovakia and a shift in the geopolitical situation in Central and Eastern Europe.