Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Sept. 30 after talks with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Budapest that both sides see "positive dynamics" in resolving issues related to national minorities, as reported by European Pravda.
Budapest has repeatedly accused Kyiv of discriminating against the Hungarian ethnic minority concentrated in southwestern Ukraine, an accusation that the Ukrainian leadership denies.
Hungary has been long considered the most Kremlin-friendly country within the EU, repeatedly obstructing sanctions against Russia and military aid to Kyiv.
Sybiha and Szijjarto held talks in a one-on-one format and discussed "in detail a wide bilateral and international agenda," according to the Ukrainian official.
Following the meeting, the Ukrainian minister mentioned opening a bilingual Ukrainian-Hungarian school for Ukrainian children in Hungary.
"I am confident that this educational institution will contribute to the preservation of Ukrainian identity, help children adapt to the environment without losing their cultural roots, and will be another step towards understanding between Ukraine and Hungary," Sybiha said after his visit to the school.
Sybiha added that Ukraine reaffirms its bilateral and international commitments to ensure the rights of persons belonging to the Hungarian national community.
"Mr. Minister (Szijjarto) and I have noted the positive dynamics in resolving this issue (on national minorities) and agreed to cooperate further to reach an understanding on all sensitive issues," he said.
The Hungarians of Ukraine are "an integral and equal part of the Ukrainian political nation and a key bridge of understanding between the two countries," Sybiha said.
Many of Kyiv and Budapest's disputes over the national minority question center around Ukraine's language laws that require at least 70% of education above fifth grade to be conducted in Ukrainian.
While Budapest has called this measure discriminatory toward the Hungarian minority, Kyiv retorted that it only aims to ensure that every Ukrainian citizen has sufficient knowledge of the official language.
Hungary has formulated an 11-point request to Ukraine regarding the rights of national minorities, which included the restoration of the status of a national school, the ability to gain a high school diploma in Hungarian, and the ability to use Hungarian in public life.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported in mid-March that Hungary has sent a document to the EU member states criticizing Ukraine's policies on national minorities.
In the document, Budapest reportedly demanded the restoration of the rights its minority had before 2015, noting that the protection of national minorities' rights is one of the priorities mentioned in the negotiating framework for Ukraine's potential accession to the EU.
Hungary also called for the possibility of political representation at the regional and national levels, according to the document. Kyiv has not publicly responded to the document.
In September 2023, the Ukrainian parliament approved changes to national minorities law, which was one of seven steps recommended by the European Commission in June 2022 for Ukraine's accession to the European Union. The changes were signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelensky in November.
Russia, a longtime ally of Hungary and its Prime Minister Viktor Orban, claimed, among other pretexts, that it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine to "protect Russian speakers in Ukraine." There is has been no evidence to support the claim that Russian-speakers in Ukraine faced discrimination.
According to the 2023 survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 84% of Ukrainians believe there are no problems with using the Russian language in Ukraine.
Dominic Culverwell
