Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó defended his country’s continued block of formally convening the body responsible for developing the NATO-Ukraine relationship over minority rights row with Kyiv.
NATO foreign ministers began a two-day meeting in Bucharest on Tuesday, seeking ways to keep Ukrainians safe and warm and to sustain Kyiv’s military through a coming winter campaign. They would only be joined by their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba for dinner because Budapest did not want him to come to a full formal session, the Financial Times reported.
“There is nothing new or surprising in our position. We made it clear years ago that until Ukraine gives back the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarians, we will not agree to the convening of this body,” Szijjártó reacted on Facebook.
Budapest and Kyiv have been locked in a row over minority rights since Ukraine’s parliament in 2017 adopted the law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language,” which Budapest says tramples on the rights of the Transcarpathian ethnic minority to study in Hungarian.
The number of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine, most of whom live in the Transcarpathia region, was estimated at around 140,000 before the war.
In turn, Hungary continues to block Ukraine’s cooperation with NATO and the holding of Ukraine-NATO Commission talks.
“We have not raised this issue since the outbreak of the war, and we have no intention of doing so now. We hope that peace will come as soon as possible, and then this issue can be discussed again”, Szijjártó added.
In January, before Moscow’s invasion, Szijjártó said Kyiv’s minority rights stance would “very much limit the Hungarian government’s ability to provide any kind of support to Ukraine, even in this conflict”.
Hungary: Kyiv’s minority rights stance ‘limits’ any support in conflict
If Ukrainians do not back down from their anti-minority policy, it will very much limit the Hungarian government’s ability to provide any kind of support, even in this conflict, Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó said in an interview with pro-government Magyar …
Source: euractiv.com
