Some hope that things will improve as the fortunes of Jan Slota, the Slovak National Party leader, fade.

ECONOMIST: Hungary and Slovakia

Its champion is Jan Slota, the bombastic leader of a nationalist party that is part of Mr Fico's coalition.

ECONOMIST: Slovakia's disturbing patriotism

Mikulas Dzurinda, a former prime minister and opposition leader, says that the real danger to the Slovak language comes not from tongue-tied ethnic Hungarians, but from the debasing of Slovak by foul-mouthed chauvinists in the government, such as the leader of the Slovak National Party, Jan Slota.

ECONOMIST: Slovakia criminalises the use of Hungarian