Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom has called off a visit to neighbouring Slovakia at the last minute after the Slovakian authorities made it clear he would not be welcome.

Mr Solyom planned to visit a border town which is regarded as a stronghold of Slovakia's Hungarian minority, where he was due to attend the unveiling of a statue of Saint Stephen, Hungary's patron saint. The Slovakian government criticised the Hungarian president's visit as an unprecedented provocation. The relationship between the two countries, both members of the European Union, has traditionally been strained.

The Slovak government was also angry about the timing of the visit, which would have taken place on the anniversary of the day that Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to the 1968 Spring uprising with support from other Eastern Bloc countries, including Hungary.