Hungary has reached agreements with Ukraine on expanding the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. This was stated by Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Madyar in his address from Paris on June 3, which he published on YouTube.
According to him, over the past weeks, intensive negotiations have taken place between Ukrainian and Hungarian experts with the participation of representatives of Hungarian organizations in Transcarpathia. As a result, Ukraine allegedly assumed a wide range of obligations in the areas of linguistic, educational, cultural and political rights.
Among the key provisions voiced by Madyar:
- restoration of the school system for national minorities, the possibility of singing the Hungarian anthem during school events and the right to freely use national symbols in educational institutions;
- expanding the use of the Hungarian language in education, school communication and administration;
- the right to conduct training, examinations and issue documents in Hungarian;
- the ability to take final and entrance exams in Hungarian, as well as its use in medicine, sports and scientific events;
- the possibility of conducting political campaigning in Hungarian in communities with a share of Hungarians of more than 10%;
- availability of ballot papers in Hungarian, as well as information materials and announcements;
- guarantees of maintaining schools even with low student numbers.
Separately, he stated that Ukraine allegedly pledged to enshrine these provisions at the legislative level, and the European Union, according to him, would take these agreements into account in the process of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession.
“Also, during the process of accession to the EU, there will be constant monitoring of the implementation of this plan. Taking into account the comprehensive agreement reached, the Hungarian government calls on Ukraine to change the action plan regarding minorities in accordance with the agreed one. If this is accomplished, the Hungarian government will agree to open the first negotiation cluster on accession to the EU,” Madyar said.
At the same time, he stressed that Hungary opposes the accelerated procedure for Ukraine’s accession to the EU and insists on an equal approach for all candidate countries, including the Western Balkans.
“The timing of completion of the 33 sections of the negotiations depends only on the work done. As we have previously stated, if Ukraine is able to complete the negotiations in 10 or 15 years, Hungary will hold a legally binding referendum on this issue,” he added.
Earlier, Madyar said that 100 thousand Hungarians in Transcarpathia allegedly “do not have basic rights.” In particular, it was about “the right to language, culture and administrative autonomy.” In this regard, Budapest outlined its position in 11 points.
Separately, Madyar noted that this issue will affect Hungary’s position regarding support for the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
