Budapest  - Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico Monday escalated the rhetoric in a bitter spat with Hungary that taps deep into centuries-old ethnic resentments.

The verbal blast came days after Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom was denied entry into Slovakia to unveil a statue of St Stephen, the first Hungarian king. The statue was newly erected by the Slovakian town of Komarno near the Hungarian border, where Hungarian is still the major language spoken.

Grasping at age-old enmities in the region, Fico charged in comments to the Slovakian news agency TASR that the "harshest Magyarization" had taken place "under the banner of the first Hungarian king Stephen."

"No one should act as though Stephen was also a Slovakian king," Fico said.

He was referring to Hungary's forced cultural assimilation during the past centuries of the many ethnic minorities living under its rule.

The neighbourhood spat between the two European Union members arose as Solyom tried to pay a private visit on Friday to Solvakia to help the town unveil the statue of Stephen, the 11th century leader who helped expand Christianity in the region.

The mayor of Komarno, who belongs to one of Slovakia's two minority Hungarian ethnic parties, had invited the Hungarian but not the Slovakian leader to the event.

Fico's angry words represented a departure from his country's own careful line of argument. Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak had earlier declared King Stephen was revered by Slovakians. Slovakia recognized the "shared history" of the two countries, he noted.

In earlier, softer tones, Fico had complained about Komarno's failure to invite the Slovakian president to the unveiling, calling the move "an attempt to celebrate Hungarian statehood in the territory of sovereign Slovakia."

Slovakian foreign ministry spokesman Peter Stano called the creation of the Stephen statue a "rude provocation of good neighbourly relations." What was even more impolite, Stano said, was that the Slovakian president Ivan Gasparovic had been waiting for five years for an official invitation from Budapest to visit.

Hungary countered with its own charges. Foreign Minister Peter Balazs accused Slovakia's administration of being hostile to his country in an interview published in the Tuesday edition of Austrian newspaper Der Standard.

"The Slovakian administration is relying heavily on hostility toward Hungary. That's administration policy there.

"But we won't be partner to that. We don't want to retaliate with similar methods. Instead, we'll seek alternate paths," said Balazs.

To that end, he said Hungary will seek bilateral talks with Slovakia.

Hungary summoned the Slovakian ambassador in Budapest Monday to protest the rebuff of Hungary's president.

Bratislava countered with a demand delivered by its ambassador to Budapest for an explanation of why Solyom had ignored clear warnings against the visit.

Until 1918, when the Czechoslovak state was founded, the territory of contemporary Slovakia was a part of Hungary. Slovakia became independent in 1993. (dpa)