The Ukrainian and Hungarian sides took a "powerful step" before the meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Viktor Orban. Kyiv and Budapest are interested in holding a meeting at the highest level.
After negotiations with the head of the Hungarian MFA Peter Szijjártó, the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak said that today both sides have a clear interest in the meeting. She has to "open a new page" in the relationship. Specific dates were not discussed, but the parties are working to make the meeting happen as soon as possible.
According to Andriy Yermak, Kyiv expects to receive "concrete results" from the upcoming meeting.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, added that the Ukrainian side seeks to finally settle the dispute with Hungary regarding the rights of national minorities. A special commission under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will present a "concrete understanding" in ten days.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received from Hungary a list of specific issues regarding the protection of the rights of national minorities. In general, a significant part of the meeting in Uzhhorod was devoted to the issue of national minorities.
Dmytro Kuleba added that earlier the issue of national minorities was discussed in the context of Ukraineʼs accession to the European Union, and now there is a desire to discuss it on a bilateral level in order to finally settle this issue.
Before the meeting with Andriy Yermak and Dmytro Kuleba, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijjártó, wrote that today was a "difficult day" for him and that he "needs to do everything so that the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia regains its former rights."
After the press conference, he said that Hungary is asking to return the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians that existed before 2015.
"Starting in 2017, you passed laws that reduced the rights of the Hungarian national minority. In December, the parliament passed a law that stopped this. But we have a request — maybe itʼs too much — but we are asking to return to the Hungarian minority all the rights it had before 2015," he said.
Szijjártó also said that Hungary respects the sovereignty of Ukraine, but will not supply weapons.
- In December, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the European integration law on the rights of national minorities. It gives private universities the right to freely choose the language of instruction, which is an official language of the EU. It is about teaching one, several or all disciplines, performing individual tasks and conducting control measures in the language of the national minority. Representatives of national minorities of Ukraine will also be able to obtain basic and specialized secondary education in their own languages. The exception is the subjects "Ukrainian language", "Ukrainian literature", "History of Ukraine", as well as "Defense of Ukraine".