d for decades because of bitter Slovak memories of cultural repression during the Austro-Hungarian empire and Hungarian resentment at losing territory to Slovakia after World War One. Problems flared up again after Slovakia emerged from the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993 and former Premier Vladimir Meciar pursued an abrasive cultural policy against his country‘s 500,000 strong ethnic Hungarian minority. But Slovakia‘s new government, which came to power late last year, has tried to improve relations, pushing through a new minorities language law and organising a series of high level meetings. A Slovak government communique said the signing takes place aboard a boat in the middle of the Danube between the Slovak town of Sturovo and Esztergom, the medieval capital of Hungary. The European Union, which is keen to avoid ethnic tension at the heart of the continent, has promised to help pay for the bridge to be rebuilt, restoring formerly close links between the two towns.