Kyiv delegation arrives in Budapest to discuss Hungary's threats to veto EU accession
Olha Stefanishyna
Ukraine has sent a delegation to the Hungarian capital to present a roadmap for resolving the issue of national minorities, as it is over this issue that Budapest is threatening to veto the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.
The Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said this at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Centre.
Previously, on November 8, the European Commission recommended opening membership talks with Ukraine.
Back then, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová has handed over a report from the European Commission to Ukraine's PM Denys Shmyhal. One of the criteria included measures on national minorities, namely to make certain changes to the legislation on the state language, media and education.
Tensions in western Ukraine, where majority of Hungarians are inhabiting the area, causes conflicts among Budapest officials. The Hungarian government is also threatening to block the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession claiming that the rights of Hungarians in Ukraine are being violated.
Stefanishyna noted that the four recommendations in the EC report are "technical":
The European Council may or may not take these recommendations into account.
She said that in September, the government sent a delegation to Budapest consisting of the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Service for Ethnic Policy, parliamentarians and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a result of these talks, Hungary was provided with a roadmap consisting of measures agreed with the Hungarian side.
The Vice Prime Minister also stressed that it was not about any "concessions" to Hungary
"We have to talk about our legislation from a broader, European perspective. These changes will be prepared. They will concern both education and language. But they will definitely not concern the possibility of not knowing the Ukrainian language," Stefanishyna stressed.
She noted that the vagueness of the clause on national minorities is "a huge intention of such wording":
The minister also added that the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine are "definitely satisfied". They suffered much less during the war than, for example, the rights of Greeks in the Azov region, who were left homeless due to the occupation of their land.
The Zakarpattia region has received "unprecedented attention".
After the European Commission officially recommended that EU states start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU, Hungarian officials made loud statements.
Katalin Novak said that Hungary and Russia could not have relations that would undermine Budapest's commitments to NATO,
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that until there is peace in Ukraine, it is not suitable for EU membership.
