Hungary/Ukraine – The issue of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Subcarpathia, which has been brought to the fore again by Ukraine’s more restrictive legislation on national minorities since 2017, continues to fuel tensions between Kiev and Budapest, while the Hungarian government obstructs Ukraine in every international forum where it can.
For the record, the Hungarian minority in Subcarpathia is an indigenous minority living in this region, which had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary from its foundation until the Treaty of Trianon on 4 June 1920 – a treaty that was imposed on Hungary and by which Hungary lost two thirds of its territory.
“Compliance with the European Union’s requirements”
It was against this tense backdrop that Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister responsible for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, announced on 9 November that „Ukraine [was] ready to conclude an agreement with Hungary on compliance with the European Union’s requirements for the protection of the rights of national minorities”. Stressing, however, that „the Hungarian minority has suffered far less [from the Russian-Ukrainien war] than, for example, the Greek minority in the Azov region”, she expressed her conviction that Budapest’s blocking attitude could be overcome by reaching a political agreement: “The dialogue with the EU is ongoing on how Ukraine intends to improve the protection of the Hungarian community in Ukraine. […] The Ukrainian delegation handed over a detailed roadmap to Hungary in September, which included practical measures such as the provision of textbooks for Hungarian-speaking children and plans to amend legislation.”
“Ukrainianisation of Hungarian minority education”
At the same time, however, the use of the Hungarian flag and the Hungarian national colours has been banned in Subcarpathia – the Ukrainian police have removed Hungarian flags from several public institutions in the region – while the headmaster of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Hungarian secondary school in Mukachevo has been dismissed without cause. In response, the spokesman of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Máté Paczolay, said: „While we welcome more than 5,000 Ukrainian refugee children and students into Hungarian schools, there are 15,000 Hungarian pupils in Subcarpathia who are forced to endure the Ukrainianisation of Hungarian minority education”. In other words, when Mrs Stefanishyna explains that „Ukraine’s plans do not foresee anything bad for the Hungarian minority”, people in Budapest are rather sceptical.
For his part, Tamás Menczer, State Secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that „In Ukraine, the Hungarian community began to be deprived of its rights eight years ago, and since then the deprivation of its rights has continued unabated. Of course, we will carefully evaluate yesterday’s decision by the Ukrainian parliament, but it is already clear that we are a long way from the return of rights in 2015”. At the same time, Fidesz submitted a resolution to the Hungarian parliament urging the government not to support the opening of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
