Hungary interested in ‘good neighbourly relations’ with Ukraine, says Hungarain FM
Hungary is interested in nurturing “good neighbourly relations” with Ukraine and wishes for its eastern neighbour to be a strong and democratic country that respects its international obligations and views its national minorities as assets, Hungary’s foreign minister said in Luxembourg on Monday.
Ukraine has no reason not to regard its minorities as assets, Péter Szijjártó told a press conference after bilateral talks with Pavlo Klimkin, his Ukrainian counterpart.
Speaking during a break of a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries, Szijjártó underscored Hungary’s openness to consulting with Ukraine.
Hungary considers it important to have open and meaningful communication between the two countries, he said.
Hungary expects Ukraine to demonstrate that it intends to resolve the current situation between the two countries rather than escalate it, not just in words but through actions as well, Szijjártó said.
In terms of gestures, “Hungary has done what it could”, he said, noting that the Hungarian government has spent 27.5 billion forints (EUR 84.7m) on funding economic development schemes in Ukraine over the past four years. Hungary has also hosted some 2,600 children from Ukraine in summer camps and treated 36 Ukrainian soldiers. Hungary provided immediate help in supplying drinking water to western Ukraine when it was asked and provides state scholarships to hundreds of Ukrainian university students, Szijjártó said.
He expressed hope that Ukraine, too, will make decisions that will allow the two countries to settle their disputes.
He added, however, that there were certain “worrying factors” in their relations. Kiev has yet to deliver on any of its promises concerning its controversial education law approved last year, Szijjártó argued.
Hungary cannot interpret the approval of a first draft of Ukraine’s language law as a step towards a solution, Szijjártó said. “If the language law is approved in its current form, it will make the use of the Hungarian language in the media and culture impossible.”
He also called it “worrying” that Ukrainian website Myrotvorets has published the personal details of Hungarian private individuals. Szijjártó said he had asked his Ukrainian colleague to take action over this development.
The minister said a petition that has appeared on the website of the Ukrainian parliament seeking the deportation of Transcarpathian Hungarians was also a cause for concern.
“It is unacceptable, impermissible and repulsive that signatures can be collected for such a proposal in Europe today,” he said. Szijjártó said he and Klimkin were in agreement that this phenomenon had to end.
The two ministers agreed on providing operating permits to an honorary consul in their respective countries.
Additionally, Hungary will consider changing the title of its government commissioner responsible for coordinating development projects in Transcarpathia — without changing the official’s function — which will open the door for Hungary’s ambassador to Kiev being granted an operating permit, Szijjártó said.
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US ambassador sees no violation of freedom rights in Hungary! – Interview
David B. Cornstein, the United States’ ambassador to Hungary, said he has not experienced any infringement on freedom rights in Hungary and should the case be the opposite, he would certainly speak out against that, in an interview published by Jewish political and cultural magazine Shabbat on Thursday.
Committed to upholding democratic values, the diplomat stressed the importance of observing the rule of law, freedom rights, the freedom of religion and free speech along with the freedom of the press.
The ambassador, who took up his post in June, said he had held talks with political and religious officials, as well as NGO leaders over the past two months and gained favourable experiences overall.
None of his negotiating partners stated concern over freedom rights or anti-Semitism, he said, adding that he had not heard any criticism over corruption at talks he had held with business leaders, either.
Concerning the issue of the Central European University, Cornstein noted his visit to CEU short after taking up his office which he said aimed to demonstrate its significance.
He said keeping the university in Budapest was in Hungary’s interest. The CEU has fulfilled all five criteria set by the Hungarian government, it is time to sign an agreement and move on, the ambassador added.
Concerning bilateral defence cooperation, he noted
the US government’s 55 million dollar contribution to an upgrade of tarmacs at Hungary’s military air bases in the framework of a US-Hungarian defence cooperation agreement.
On the topic of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, he offered to mediate between the two countries over Ukraine’s education law, which Hungary says harms the rights of the Hungarian minorities in Ukraine.
On another subject, Cornstein said that Hungary should reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies. He warned that Russia was aiming to sow discord, while his country was committed to providing assistance. Central Europe, he suggested, should opt for the United States.
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Hungarian foreign ministry: Ukraine failing on EU, NATO due to its own errors
Ukraine has failed to get ahead in respect of its European Union and NATO aspirations, not because of Hungary, but due to its own mistakes, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday.
Tamás Menczer, state secretary for communications, said in a statement that criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in connection with his “unfriendly” statements about Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations was unwarranted.
Ukraine summoned Hungary’s ambassador to Kiev to protest against Orbán’s recent speech given in Romania. Read more about Orbán’s speech HERE.
Noting Ukraine’s education law that prevents national minorities from studying in their mother tongue, Menczer said it was not Hungary that had made unfriendly moves against Ukraine but the other way round.
Extant minority rights are endangered in Ukraine and this flies in the face of its international commitments such as the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the NATO Preparedness Plan, he added.
Menczer said that notwithstanding the “open attack” on the Hungarian minority, Hungary has treated Ukraine with decency, recently having donated several tonnes of chlorine to the western part of the country in order to ensure a safe supply of drinking water, read details HERE.
“We expect Ukraine to give back rights taken from its national minorities,” the statement said.
Deputy PM urges autonomy for Romania Hungarians
Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén on Friday called on Romania to fulfil pledges the country’s first national assembly made in 1918, under which ethnic Hungarians should be granted autonomy.
Speaking at the Baile Tusnad Summer University, Semjén said that Romania should “honour that pledge and stop seeing it as extremism if Hungarians demand self-determination.”
The answer to the Trianon Treaties, which severed Transylvania from Hungary, is “national mourning, celebrating national unity and openly representing the Hungarian standpoint on such historical events,”
he said, criticising the call for holding a “national consultation” survey on the revision of Trianon.
Hungary is open to cooperation with Romania, he said, citing the country’s “historic reconciliation” with Serbia as an example of good relations.
Hungary provides economic support for ethnic Hungarian minorities in neighbouring countries, and such a cooperation is a win-win” situation for both sides. Hungary and Romania are cooperation successfully in setting up “Europe’s north-south infrastructural axis” and opposing the Ukrainian public education law, which Hungary says curbs minority rights, Semjén said.
The 1918 national assembly in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár) and the declaration signed there created present-day Romania by uniting Transylvania with Bessarabia and Bukovina.
It is that time of the year again when Hungarians mourn the great loss that the Treaty of Trianon. June 4 is the 98th anniversary of Hungary losing 2/3 of its territory and about 1/3 of its population, read more HERE.
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Foreign minister: UN migration package ‘dangerous’
The UN global compact for migration is “an unbalanced and dangerous document” as it will galvanise migratory processes that already pose a threat to Europe, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said in Brussels on Monday.
Speaking to Hungarian journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Szijjártó said that every document and every international decision-making body that incites the migration process is in conflict with European security interests.
The minister said the possibility that Hungary may quit the UN talks — similarly to the US — had cropped up but it had decided in the end to see them through so as to submit proposals.
He said it had become clear that African and Latin American countries — several of which are countries of origin for migration — had strongly influenced the document’s shaping and it would be futile to advance any other proposal or amendment initiative.
Szijjártó added that Hungary may boycott further stages of the document’s approval.
Cooperation with Latin American countries is good in most areas within the UN but there is a basic difference in opinion when it comes to assessing migration, he said. During the talks, Hungary once again made it clear that it would not participate in any form of migrant redistribution, he added.
“Hungary can make itself available only if the talks focus on ways to keep migrants outside the EU or to send them back,” Szijjártó said.
The key issue of how the EU can reduce migration pressure from Libya remains hanging, he said, adding that this would require protecting the southern borders of Libya and preventing human smuggling networks from “using the country as a passageway”.
Also, migrants in the north should be prevented from undertaking the life-threatening journey by sea, Szijjártó added.
The minister called it an important new development that Italy had made it clear that “boats filled with illegal migrants” paid by civil organisations are prohibited from using their ports.
Meanwhile, the Visegrád Group of countries has offered 35 million euros to help protect the southern borders of Libya, he said.
On another subject, he said Ukraine had gravely breached one of Europe’s most guarded values and laws when it comes to the protection of minorities.
Szijjártó insisted that Ukraine was neglecting its international commitments as well as its NATO roadmap and its EU Association Agreement.
“Hungary finds it unacceptable that, all this notwithstanding, Kiev expects to carry on in the same way towards European integration,” he said.
Based on the fact that the Ukrainian government has been unable to get parliament vote about this issue over eight months, it is difficult to decide whether the government has a true dedication to meeting the requirements of EU integration, he said.
Hungary confirms its position that it will not support Ukraine’s EU and Euro-Atlantic integration until the country’s education law is amended in line with EU requirements, he added.
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NATO summit – Hungary ‘one of safest countries’ globally, says Orbán
Hungary is “one of the safest countries” in the world and “we must be careful not to lose what we have achieved”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Hungarian public media on the sidelines of a NATO summit currently underway in Brussels.
Hungary supports US President Donald Trump’s proposal that NATO members should increase their defence spending, because “security is most important and the greatest danger is losing it”, Orbán said, and called Trump’s request “in a sense justified”.
Orbán warned, however, that “not all EU members are in agreement”.
Some countries’ defence spending is below 2 percent of their GDP, “while the American is talking about 4 percent”, he said.
Concerning the event, Orbán said that participants in the “leaders’ club” meeting showed “signs of reconciliation” compared to a similar meeting last year, attended by Trump for the first time, which had a “rough atmosphere”. Conflicts have become less significant and there is more consensus, he argued, suggesting that both the US and Europe are more likely to make concessions.
Concerning challenges for NATO, Orbán said that “threats from the east and the south are very different in nature; the one from the east is called Russia while the southern one is terrorism”. He insisted that
a stable Turkey was crucial in protecting the continent against terrorism and migrants in the south.
Hungary welcomes that Turkey has “succeeded in completing a constitutional reform which could make that country more stable than ever before”, the prime minister added.
Regarding Georgia and Ukraine’s participation in the summit, Orbán welcomed the former country’s efforts to get closer to NATO. Hungary “profoundly agrees” with Georgia strengthening ties with NATO as it agreed with starting talks on Macedonia’s accession, he said.
Ukraine, however, is involved in a debate, Orbán said, referring to that country’s education law, which Hungary said harms the acquired rights of Hungarian minorities in Transcarpathia.
“This is not a debate between Hungary and Ukraine. From NATO’s point of view, this is a question of credibility and integrity. If Ukraine has signed an agreement pledging to refrain from curbing minority rights, it should respect it,” he said.
“NATO’s integrity and the protection of Hungarian minorities go hand in hand. For this reason, I will have to speak up today and do so forcefully,” Orbán said.
Orbán said Hungary supports setting up the joint European armed forces as soon as possible. Commanding a joint army is a serious challenge but
“Hungary has some knowledge to share in this field as its military had been part of the joint army of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.”
Orbán called it a vested interest of a truly independent Europe to have armed forces of its own. This is one of the reasons why EU states, “the Germans among them”, should spend as much as possible on setting up those forces, he said.
Asked if setting up an independent European army may cause conflicts with the bloc’s American allies, Orbán said “this is a question of goodwill and intelligence”. If the North Americans do not consider this as a move against them, a two-pillar defence system can become viable, he added.
Asked about the FIFA World Cup final, to be played by France and Croatia on Sunday, the prime minister said
the Croatian team’s superb performance is in part “the success of this region”.
Orbán said he would wholeheartedly root for the Croats because “they are our neighbours and friends. Further, they represent a shared soccer culture, even if contemporary Hungarian soccer fails to reach, let alone come close to the level represented by the Croatian team”.
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Foreign ministry: Hungary position on Ukraine unchanged
Hungary’s position concerning Ukraine has not changed, the foreign ministry’s spokesman said on Tuesday, ahead of a two-day NATO summit beginning in Brussels on Wednesday.
Hungary will continue to block Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration efforts as long as the infringement of minority rights continues in that neighbouring country and rights already acquired are not returned to minorities living there, Tamas Menczer told MTI in a statement.
The Hungarian government will in addition maintain its veto against a NATO-Ukraine summit, any ministerial level meetings and any joint declarations between NATO and Ukraine, he said.
The government will however not raise a veto against the trilateral meeting planned during the summit with the leaders of Georgia and Ukraine which will focus on the security of the Black Sea region and the adoption of a joint statement, he said.
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Situation in Ukraine test of strength for Hungary diplomacy, says Fidesz
The current situation in Ukraine is a test of strength for Hungarian diplomacy, as it is “entering unknown territory” in connection with promoting the interests of ethnic Hungarians, the head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee said in Synevyrs’ka Poliana (Felsőszinevér), in western Ukraine, on Friday.
Addressing a panel discussion at the 26th Transcarpathian Summer University (Kárpátaljai Nyári Egyetem), Zsolt Németh said the direction Ukraine takes with its education law banning post-primary-level education in minority languages would only become clear after next year’s presidential election there. The question, he said, was whether Transcarpathia Hungarians and Hungarian diplomacy would have room for manoeuvre in connection with the law’s implementation.
Németh argued that Ukraine’s education law was not solely about education, but rather about a process determining the quality of Ukrainian democracy.
He said the issue concerned not just Ukraine, but also Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin, given that the countries in which these communities live are also monitoring the situation of the Ukrainian education law.
He said the matter also concerned western European countries, the European Union, the Council of Europe as well as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and its Ukraine policy. The United States also has a role to play in the matter, Németh said.
But despite the dispute over the education law,
“Hungary’s interest still lies in safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
However, tensions between the two countries are unlikely to go away anytime soon, he said, noting next week’s NATO summit and the upcoming bilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (KMKSZ) leader László Brenzovics said international public opinion should force Ukraine to observe its own constitution and laws. Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) Hungarians should continue to stand up for their rights, he added.
Venice Commission head to follow up on Ukraine education law recommendations
Gianni Buquicchio, the president of the Venice Commission, will take a role in following up on the body’s recommendations on the Ukrainian public education law, the head of the Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee said after meeting Buquicchio.
Hungary expects Ukraine to comply with the recommendations which the Council of Europe’s advisory body issued last December, Zsolt Németh said. The government would like private schools to be exempt from the law, and that the contested regulations not be implemented for another five years, he said.
Hungary will continue to block Ukrainian initiatives at international organisations as the UN and NATO, Németh said.
László Brenzovics, head of the Hungarian Cultural Federation in Transcarpathia (KMKSZ), also attended the meeting. Although Ukraine has made promises to comply with the recommendations, there is “no sign of actual action taken”, he said.
The Ukrainian parliament passed amendments to its public education law last September, limiting minority language education to kindergarten and primary school levels.
The Venice Commission issued recommendations on the law in December, proposing that Ukraine execute changes to it.
As we wrote last week, Hungary has an interest in having good relations with Ukraine, but will do everything to prevent the curbing of the rights of Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) Hungarians, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a press conference on Friday after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin, in Nizhne Solotvino (Alsószlatina) in southwest Ukraine, read more HERE.
Hungarian ministers discuss Ukraine education law with Ukrainian ministers
Hungary has an interest in having good relations with Ukraine, but will do everything to prevent the curbing of the rights of Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) Hungarians, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a press conference on Friday after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin, in Nizhne Solotvino (Alsószlatina) in southwest Ukraine.
At the talks which Hungarian Human Resources Minister Mikls Kásler and Ukrainian Education Minister Liliya Hrynevych also attended, the parties discussed the Ukrainian education law, which Hungary says harms the rights of the Hungarian minorities in the country.
The law, which was approved last September, restricted public education in minority languages to kindergarten and primary school levels.
Szijjártó said that bilateral relations, which were previously “mostly about infrastructure investments and opening new border crossings”, were “hijacked” by the education law. “This is not right, most of our countries’ interests are the same,” Szijjártó said.
Hungary does not want to challenge Ukrainian methods to optimise the teaching of the country’s official Ukrainian language, Szijjártó said. “All we ask is that this should not be done to the detriment of minority language education,” he said.
Hungary welcomes Ukraine’s decision to adopt the Venice Commission’s opinion of the law.
The Council of Europe’s advisory body issued its opinion on the Ukrainian education law at the end of 2017.
Based on that opinion, Szijjártó said that the Ukrainian parliament “will hopefully, finally” prolong the law’s transition period, and exempt private schools from the scope of the legislation.
Szijjártó welcomed the Ukrainian education minister’s pledge to consult Hungarian minorities on parts of the legislation package in July.
The Hungarian government will stay in contact with the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (KMKSZ) on all issues concerning Hungarians in Ukraine‘s Transcarpathia region, he said.
Klimkin called the meeting “dynamic and constructive”. “Our interest is that the members of the Hungarian community, who are also Ukrainian citizens, preserve their national identities … but we also want to make it worthwhile for them to learn Ukrainian well enough so that no one feels disadvantaged,” Klimkin said.
Hrynevych said that the education ministry’s aim was to ensure good quality knowledge for all children, regardless of their ethnic background. “It is important that the children keep their ethnic identities but also that they speak the official language fluently,” she said. Currently, teaching methods, curriculums, text books and teachers are missing in Hungarian schools to guarantee this, she said, adding that the ministry is already working on solutions.
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Foriegn minister calls on Council of Europe to take issue of protecting European minorities seriously
Hungary calls on the Council of Europe to take the issue of protecting European minorities seriously, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Strasbourg on Monday.
Speaking by phone to MTI during a two-day conference on the protection of minorities and regional and minority languages, Szijjártó said the various European institutions paid for by European taxpayers were more concerned about illegal migrants than national minorities that have dwelled in Europe for centuries.
“This is unacceptable,” he said.
He said it was wrong for a European institution to concern itself with Hungary’s “Stop Soros” law aimed at ensuring the security of the Hungarian people rather than with the Hungarians of western Ukraine “whose rights are being seriously breached”, he added.
The conference is taking place to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
“One of Europe’s most important values is protecting minority rights and the Council of Europe should take this seriously,” Szijjártó said.
The minister said Transcarpathian Hungarians had been stripped of one of their minority rights, and although the CoE had supported Hungary verbally, none of the Venice Commission’s recommendations had been implemented by Ukraine. The law which deprives students of their right to study in their mother tongue is being implemented in the absence of any agreement between the Ukrainian government and Hungarian minority organisations, he said.
“It just can’t be true that some European countries who are members of the Council of Europe are ignoring the opinion of the Venice Commission and trampling over minority rights,” he said. Hungary expects the Council of Europe to uphold proposals earlier made by the Venice Commission and urge Ukraine to withdraw measures that seriously undermine the rights of the Hungarian minority, he added.
Szijjártó vowed that the Hungarian government would continue to do everything to provide support in protection of the rights of national minorities.
The Venice Commission said in a statement to MTI that its president, Gianni Buquicchio, and Szijjártó discussed the implementation of the body’s opinion on the Ukrainian education law on secondary education as well as its standpoint on the “Stop Soros” bill.
At the meeting, Buquicchio requested that the Hungarian Parliament delay passage of the “Stop Soros” bill until Friday, when the Venice Commission officially publishes its opinion on the bill. At the very least, the recommendations made in the draft opinion already sent to the Hungarian authorities should be taken into account, he told Szijjártó.
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Foreign minister: Central Europe, US ‘natural allies’
The United States once again considers the central European region as its “natural, strategic ally”, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told public television M1 on Friday.
Referring to recent talks with Mike Pompeo, his US counterpart, Szijjártó said that during the Obama administration central Europe had been “off the positive agenda” of US diplomacy, but “now it has changed”.
Illegal migration, fighting terrorism, security policy, United Nations reforms and “balanced” policies towards Israel are “all areas where (the two countries’) interests are clearly identical”, Szijjártó said.
The minister said that the US has “greatly contributed to easing conflicts with Ukraine arising from (that country’s) violating minority rights”.
Prior to meeting Pompeo, Szijjártó had met his Ukrainian counterpart in New York and agreed to set up an inter-governmental team to monitor Ukraine’s implementing the Venice Commission’s recommendations concerning the Ukrainian education law.
“There is hope for a solution,” he said, and added that the Ukrainian education minister had launched consultations with the ethnic Hungarian community while a meeting would soon be held between the education minister of the two countries and ethnic leaders.
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Hungary proposes intergovernmental team on Ukraine educaion law, says FM in New York
Hungary has proposed that an intergovernmental working group should be set up to oversee the implementation of the Venice Commission’s recommendations concerning Ukraine’s new education law, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in New York on Tuesday.
Szijjártó is in New York to attend a session of the United Nations Security Council focusing on the situation in Ukraine.
Speaking to MTI ahead of a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin, Szijjártó said that “by violating the rights of its Hungarian national minority, Ukraine has created a situation that is bad for everyone.”
“It’s bad for Ukraine, bad for Hungary, but primarily it’s bad for the minority groups living in Ukraine, including Transcarpathia Hungarians,” the minister said.
“Hungary isn’t interested in seeking trouble, but rather in finding a solution to this situation that’s bad for everyone,” Szijjártó said. Hungary wants Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) Hungarians to regain their acquired rights, he added.
“We also want to return to our policy that in Ukraine’s case was built on supporting our neighbours’ European and Euro-Atlantic integration.”
This is why Hungary has proposed to the Ukrainian government the establishment of an intergovernmental working group that would oversee the implementation of the Venice Commission’s decisions concerning Ukraine, Szijjártó said. He noted that the commission had ruled that the Ukrainian government should consult the country’s minority groups on laws that concern them and cannot curtail their acquired rights.
Hungary will gladly cooperate with Ukraine on monitoring the implementation of the Venice Commission’s decisions, Szijjártó said. He added that Hungary was ready to help Ukriane in making sure that the rights of Transcarpathia Hungarians are not violated in the future.
Hungarian government initiates new NATO policy on Ukraine
The Hungarian government is initiating a new NATO policy on Ukraine for the protection of ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, a memorandum issued on Tuesday shows.
The government said that despite the unprecedented level of political support and financial assistance provided by NATO, EU, IMF, World Bank and a large number of states, the Ukrainian government seems to lack the political will and the capacity to carry out the fundamental reform programs required by its international donors to overhaul the economic, political and social system of the country.
“The lack of progress in key reform areas and the continued assault of the state on minority rights have led to a dangerous level of instability. The failure to properly implement a credible modernisation agenda, aligned with the international commitments and criteria that Ukraine had previously agreed to, means that the already fragile country is becoming more vulnerable to domestic and external pressure,” the government said.
“Ukraine has come to pose a security challenge to its neighbours, including Hungary”, it added.
The government said that Ukraine was again ignoring a number of its international obligations and commitments while legislation aimed at curtailing minority rights was continuously introduced.
Kiev has embarked on a road of violating the already existing rights of minorities, it said.
The government cited the Ukrainian law on education as an example, stating that it is in breach of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the 2017 NATO Annual National Programme.
“The Hungarian government has repeatedly expressed its concern over Article 7 of the new Law on Education that severely restricts the opportunities to learn and receive education in minority language.
Ukraine has failed to conduct thorough consultations with representatives of the minorities prior to adopting the law and to date, the Ukrainian government has not responded constructively to Hungary’s proposals to reach a settlement,” it said.
“Despite promises that state otherwise, the Ukrainian government has started to implement the discriminatory regulation with immediate effect,” it added.
According to the Hungarian government, the Ukrainian state has weakened to the point that it now lacks the ability to perform its most fundamental duties such as to secure the rule of law, and provide effective economic, social and political management.
The government said that NATO’s current policy on Ukraine has not brought about the desired results. For instance, Kiev moved military troops back to its border with NATO after it had terminated its presence there years ago.
All this signals that “Ukraine is not able to comply with its obligations in various international organisations”.
In order to maintain Ukraine’s NATO integration process, it is imperative that Ukraine fulfils all obligations that it undertook in its annual national programme, among them the protection of minority rights. Laws adopted or to be adopted by the Ukrainian legislature are contrary to the commitments Ukraine had previously undertaken towards NATO. Furthermore, these laws directly harm the rights and interests of citizens and minority groups belonging to NATO member states, the government said.
“Therefore, to maintain Ukraine’s NATO integration process, we propose that the Ukrainian government ensures that minority groups belonging to NATO member states are exempted from the implementation of laws that restrict the rights of national minorities. While this solution does not, of course, meet the requirement of non-discrimination, it does, however, provide an opportunity to keep Ukraine on the path of NATO integration. Otherwise, the credibility of Ukraine’s integration process becomes highly questionable,” it said.
“In order to preserve stability in our immediate eastern neighbourhood, NATO must adapt its policy on Ukraine to these new circumstances,” the government said.
The memorandum will be sent to the prime ministers of all NATO member states and the secretary-general of the military alliance.
Foreign minister accuses Brussels of putting migrants ahead of Hungarians in Ukraine
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has accused the European Union of putting the rights of migrants ahead of those of the Hungarian minority living in western Ukraine.
“We are forced to engage in a constant debate with Brussels over which human rights of migrants should be respected, while here in Transcarpathia there are 150,000 Hungarians whose fundamental right is to live in their own home in safety and use their own language,” he told a press conference after meeting the head of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (KMKSZ), László Brenzovics, on Wednesday.
The minister said it appeared that migrants were more important to Brussels than Hungarians in Ukraine.
He said the situation regarding laws violating the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority had worsened in recent days. Rather than comply with the decisions of the various international forums, the Ukrainian government has introduced initiatives that have made the situation worse, Szijjártó said.
The minister noted that in spite of the Venice Commission’s decision issued last year that Ukraine should consult its national minorities on its new education law banning post-primary-level education in minority languages, the government had not held a single consultation with KMKSZ.
Szijjártó said that though Ukraine now wants to postpone the law’s enactment until 2023, this was not enough for Hungary. “We expect Ukraine not to introduce the law until 2023 and in the meantime to reach an agreement with minorities,” he said, adding that Hungary also wants private schools to be excluded from the law’s jurisdiction.
Szijjártó said Ukraine could easily meet these expectations, and if it did, Hungary would lift its veto of the country’s NATO accession.
The minister said Hungary was also concerned about a Ukrainian bill that would strip dual citizens of their Ukrainian citizenship. He said this bill was also worrying from a NATO standpoint, noting that if enacted, the law would be stripping citizens of NATO member states of their Ukrainian citizenship.
Hungary is constantly seeking dialogue with Ukraine, Szijjártó said, pointing out that next week he will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers. On May 23, US Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell will visit Budapest, he said.
Brenzovics said Ukraine was planning further measures that would curb the rights of Transcarpathia Hungarians and would be in breach of the Ukraine’s own constitution and its international commitments. And if a country strives to join both the European Union and NATO, it cannot impose measures that go against European norms, he added.
Meanwhile, asked about ongoing debates in the EU, Szijjártó said that until next year’s European parliamentary elections, “there will be plenty of political and legal battles.”
“In the meantime there will also be the debate on the next EU budget in connection with which certain people want to create subjective standards regarding the funds to be distributed based on the EU treaties,” he added.
Szijjártó said that the European Commission would try to wrap up the debate on migration by the summer. He added, however, that since migration was the biggest challenge facing the bloc, it would be better if the decision on the direction the EU should take in the matter were left up to voters in next year’s elections.
Szijjártó said the so-called Sargentini report, which he called a “collection of certified lies”, was “also on the table” and also addressed issues that have already been settled.
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Hungarian FM: claiming Russia to be behind Hungary’s Ukraine policy is a lie
It is false to claim that Hungary’s policy towards Ukraine has been dictated by Moscow, the foreign minister said on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministerial session in Brussels on Friday.
The Hungarian government’s Ukraine policy is motivated by the aim that Kiev should withdraw laws that infringe on the acquired minority rights of about 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in the Transcarpathia region, Péter Szijjártó said.
“We firmly and resolutely reject the smear campaign conducted by some Ukrainian politicians accusing Hungary of serving some sort of Russian interests in its policy towards Ukraine,”
the minister told a press conference at the NATO headquarters.
Concerning NATO, he said that the military alliance should give adequate responses to challenges illegal migration poses not only from the east but from the south as well.
A repeated wave of illegal migrants seeking entry to Europe threatens not only the continent’s security but its stability as well, Szijjarto said.
Foreign minister: Ukraine preparing ‘third blow’ against national minorities
Ukraine is preparing a “third blow” against its national minorities, with the president initiating parliament to approve a law on imposing sanctions on dual citizens in a priority procedure, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said on Tuesday.
The first blow was an amendment to the education law, followed by a second blow which involved declaring the language law unconstitutional and planning its amendment, the minister told a press conference.
Ukraine is taking action against its national minorities “in an unprecedentedly despicable and pre-meditated” manner, Szijjártó said.
Ukraine’s president is working together with the parliament in gradually taking away the acquired rights of minorities, while pursuing a “campaign of lies” and pretending to be victims of geopolitics, he added.
Although the country aspires to become a NATO member state, the new legislation would declare dual citizens of Ukraine and a NATO country a risk to national security, Szijjártó said, adding that
“no Transcarpathian Hungarian can be considered a risk to Ukraine’s national security.”
Hungary will maintain its veto of Ukraine’s NATO accession, even in the face of mounting international pressure, unless national minorities’ rights are restored, he said. The veto is the country’s only tool to protect the rights of Transcarpathia Hungarians, and Hungary is not prepared to relinquish it, he said. Should Ukraine restore the rights of its ethnic Hungarians, Hungary will lift the veto.
The solution is in Ukraine’s hands, he said.
Commenting on a recent report of Financial Times saying that EU cohesion funds may be made conditional on compliance with the EU’s core values in the future, Szijjártó said it was “dangerous to present cohesion funds as if they were humanitarian aid.” These funds are regulated by European agreements, and the central European countries have fulfilled their obligations in opening their markets to western companies, which “have made enormous profits”. Imposing additional obligations would be contrary to European values and agreements, he said.
Hungary to resume support for Ukraine if education law postponed until 2023
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