Hungarian–Ukrainian expert-level consultations aimed at resolving the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia will begin with the involvement of representatives of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia, Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said on Monday.
She said on Facebook that this had been agreed upon during a telephone conversation over the weekend with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
“Both sides have appointed their negotiating delegations, which will hold their first consultations online,” she said. As a result, discussions can begin as early as tomorrow, laying an important foundation for the prompt and reassuring settlement of minority rights issues, she added.
“I trust that the dialogue will be constructive and productive, and that the negotiations will soon bring tangible progress for the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia. I wish the delegations every success and productive work in achieving this goal,” the Hungarian foreign minister said.
Update: PM Péter Magyar, Ukrainian FM Sybiha, European Council head Antonio Costa
Sybiha said on his ministry’s website that over the weekend, he had a constructive and substantive call with Orban and agreed to hold a round of Hungarian-Ukrainian expert-level consultations “as early as this week to find practical and robust solutions for the Hungarian minority in the Zakarpattia region, which will benefit both countries and our bilateral relations”.
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He said he had thanked Orbán “for the Hungarian government’s principled and swift reaction to the latest Russian strikes against Ukraine”. “We are prepared to work with the new Hungarian government on all issues of our bilateral agenda, including the national minority topic, with the aim of restoring trust and good-neighborly relations between our countries,” he said. He said that during the phone call he had also “touched upon the issue of Ukraine’s EU accession path and reiterated our readiness for the sooner opening of negotiation clusters“.
Rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine priority
Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Facebook ahead of a meeting of the Hungarian cabinet on Monday that he had briefed the head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, “that we have started expert-level talks with Ukraine on swift legal guarantees of the Hungarian minority’s use of the mothertongue, education and culture.” Costa said that he had “made it clear to the Ukrainian president in talks on Sunday that all further steps must be preceded by respect for the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine,” Magyar said.
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After five years of hungary being on the side of russia, peter magyar should be asking forgiveness of the ukranian people. Cheeky bastrd