History of the euro
Slovakia fulfilled the euro convergence criteria. At 2.2%, Slovakia's twelve-month inflation was well below the 3.2% threshold. However, for March 2008 annual inflation was 3.6%. Fiscal deficit was 2.2% versus the reference value of 3.0%. And finally, the government debt ratio was 29.4% of GDP in 2007, well below the maximum ratio of 60.0%. Public opinion supported the switch, with 58% in favour and 35% opposed, but 65% worried about the inflationary impacts of the adoption. Three months after the adoption of the currency 83 percent of Slovaks consider Slovakia's decision to adopt the euro to have been right.
Hungarians in Slovakia
On 1 September 2009 more than ten thousand Hungarians held demonstrations to protest the so-called language law that limits the use of minority languages in Slovakia. The law calls for fines of up to £4,380 for institutions "misusing the Slovak language". There were demonstrations in Dunajská Streda (), Slovakia, in Budapest, Hungary and in Brussels, Belgium.Some 585 schools in Slovakia, including kindergartens, use the Hungarian language as the main language of education. Nearly 200 schools use both Slovak and Hungarian. In 2004, the J. Selye University of Komárno was the first state-financed Hungarian-language university to be opened outside of Hungary.Note: only towns in Slovakia are listed here, villages and rural municipalities are not.