Hungary not to grab Ukraine’s Zakarpattia, says Ukrainian expert

Hungary is not Russia, Chornovil said.

Hungary will not be seizing Zakarpattia from Ukraine, Taras Chornovil, a Ukrainian political analyst and foreign relations expert says to UNIAN news agency.

“Hungary, unlike Russia, is part of the civilized world. Its policies could be uncivilized, and pro-Russian in some ways, but there are fundamental principles in the EU and NATO. They could destabilize the situation  -not in the whole of Zakarpattia/Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) region, but in two of its districts – but they can never claim a revision of borders, this will never happen, under any circumstances,” he said during an online Q&A session with the Ukrainian news outlet Glavred’s readers.

In addition, the policy of issuing Hungarian passports plays against the Hungarians themselves, the analyst believes. He explained that many new EU citizens from Hungarian villages and towns leave Zakarpattia, but choose to live and work in other EU countries rather than stay in Budapest. There is an ongoing, gradual extinction of these territories, according to the expert.

“I suppose the next census might bring plenty of unexpected news. There is no one to play along any separatist ideas. And don’t forget: Hungary is not Russia,” Chornovil said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, relations between Ukraine and Hungary deteriorated after the Verkhovna Rada adopted a new law on education in 2017. Hungary has been blocking Ukraine-NATO Commission meetings, alleging that the language provision of the law on education, which stipulates that the national language is the language of the educational process in educational institutions violate the rights of Hungarians living in Ukraine.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister demanded that Ukraine amend the law on education and postpone its implementation until 2023, otherwise Budapest will block important meetings for Ukraine at the level of the European Union and NATO.

In addition, after the situation with the secret distribution of Hungarian passports to Ukrainians in Zakarpattia region, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that Ukraine could expel the Hungarian Consul in Berehove and would continue implementing the pro-Ukrainian policy in the region. In turn, Szijjártó threatened to resort to new measures to hinder the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.

Button

UNIAN says, on October 4, the Hungarian Consul in the town of Berehove was declared persona non grata. He had to leave the territory of Ukraine within the following 72 hours. In a retaliation move, Hungary announced the expulsion of the Ukrainian Consul in Budapest. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on November 15 echoed Vladimir Putin in claiming that it was impossible to reach an agreement with today’s leadership of Ukraine. He expressed hope that following presidential elections scheduled for 2019, it will be easier for Budapest to come to terms with Ukraine leaders.

Source: UNIAN news agency