The sustainable settlement of issues facing ethnic Hungarian communities is possible only if neighbouring peoples change their views of Hungary, former President Laszlo Solyom said in Komarno, S Slovakia, on Sunday, Politics.hu reports. But for this to happen Hungary must make an effort to change its attitude towards its neighbours so that they do not cast Hungarians in a bad light, he added.

"Without changing the values of neighbouring peoples concerning Hungarians there is no permanent and reassuring resolution. Similarly, we need to adopt a new approach to our neighbours," Solyom said during a wreath-laying ceremony at a monument to St Stephen.

The monument was unveiled a year ago, at a ceremony to which President Solyom had been invited. Slovak border police, however, held him up at the border, saying that his presence at the event was unwanted.

The incident created diplomatic tension between the two countries.