Ukraine’s minister to visit Budapest despite tensions

The responsibility for deteriorating Hungary-Ukraine relations clearly lies with Kyiv, but the Hungarian government continues to support dialogue, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Monday, noting that Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha is scheduled to visit Hungary this week.

Szijjártó shifting responsibility

Szijjártó said in response to a question at a joint press conference with Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar that responsibility for steadily deteriorating Hungary-Ukraine ties clearly and exclusively lay with Kyiv.

He cited the fact that it was not Hungary that had taken away rights from ethnic Ukrainians living in the country, but rather Ukraine had been continually curtailing the rights of ethnic Hungarians living there.

“How could relations be improved? For instance, if Ukraine returned all the minority rights it took away from ethnic Hungarians. It solely depends on this. If the anti-corruption regulation could be restored within a minute as a result of pressure from Europe, then the minority rights could also be returned in the same length of time,” he said.

European Union not interested in fate of ethnic Hungarians?

“The problem is that whereas the situation of corruption in Ukraine’s state administration was, for some reason, more important to the European Union, they are not at all interested in the fate of ethnic Hungarians,” he said.

“The EU enlargement commissioner even told me this face-to-face in Copenhagen, and she let it slip in concrete terms that for them corruption was a more important issue than minority rights.” Szijjártó said he remained a supporter of continual dialogue, and Sybiha would visit Hungary this week, “if all goes well”.

“I am ready to discuss all these matters for the umpteenth time with him. Over the past 11 years, I have met four different Ukrainian foreign ministers dozens of times,” he said. “I always told them what we wanted and, every time, the opposite happened,” he added. “But that’s how diplomacy and foreign policy work, so let’s try again.”

“Very dangerous process” in France

Commenting on French domestic politics, he warned of “a very dangerous process from the point of view of democracy”, adding that “constant attempts are being made in Europe to get rid of patriotic politicians by political, legal and sometimes even physical means.”

“They tried to kill the Slovak prime minister, the former Czech prime minister was beaten up during the campaign, and protests financed from abroad have been underway in Serbia for several months,” he said. “They have mobilised the entire institutional system in Brussels against us in order to set up a puppet government here,” he added.

“An international witch hunt has been underway against the president of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska,” he said. “The most popular candidate has been banned from running in the election in France,” he added. “In Germany, they are trying to keep away from the political system, one of the most popular parties, if not the most popular. That’s what’s happening in Europe these days,” he said.

Read more about Ukraine on Daily News Hungary.

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