Hungary Presses Ukraine to Protect Hungarian-Language Education, Minority Schools
(MENAFN) Hungary called on Ukraine on Monday to safeguard Hungarian-language education and provide legal protections for minority schools as Ukrainian lawmakers prepared to consider legislation on minority rights.
“It is important that Ukraine fulfill its obligations to ensure Hungarian-language instruction and legal certainty for minority schools,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban told reporters before an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg.
Orban said Budapest was “awaiting news from Kyiv,” where parliament was expected to debate and vote on the proposed legislation on Monday.
The bill would expand educational and language protections for Ukraine’s Hungarian minority, including legal guarantees for Hungarian-language teaching and the schools that provide it.
Orban said Hungarian authorities would oversee the legislation’s implementation in cooperation with representatives of Hungarian minority organizations in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region. Monitoring would take place through an education subcommittee within the countries’ joint intergovernmental economic committee.
The rights of an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in western Ukraine have long been a source of tension between Kyiv and Budapest. The issue has also played a central role in Hungary’s opposition to advancing Ukraine’s European Union accession negotiations.
In return for Ukraine’s commitment to introduce the minority rights legislation, Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s government withdrew its veto on moving forward with EU accession discussions in areas including the single market.
“It is important that Ukraine fulfill its obligations to ensure Hungarian-language instruction and legal certainty for minority schools,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban told reporters before an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg.
Orban said Budapest was “awaiting news from Kyiv,” where parliament was expected to debate and vote on the proposed legislation on Monday.
The bill would expand educational and language protections for Ukraine’s Hungarian minority, including legal guarantees for Hungarian-language teaching and the schools that provide it.
Orban said Hungarian authorities would oversee the legislation’s implementation in cooperation with representatives of Hungarian minority organizations in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region. Monitoring would take place through an education subcommittee within the countries’ joint intergovernmental economic committee.
The rights of an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in western Ukraine have long been a source of tension between Kyiv and Budapest. The issue has also played a central role in Hungary’s opposition to advancing Ukraine’s European Union accession negotiations.
In return for Ukraine’s commitment to introduce the minority rights legislation, Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s government withdrew its veto on moving forward with EU accession discussions in areas including the single market.
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