On a joint Hungarian-Romanian initiative, the monitoring committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) unanimously decided to ask the CoE's constitutional advisory body, the Venice Commission, to examine whether the Ukrainian minority protection law is in line with international standards - stressed Zsolt Németh , the Fidesz president of the Parliament's foreign affairs committee, speaking by phone from Strasbourg.
Zsolt Németh drew attention to the fact that, despite Ukraine's obligation, it did not consult with the Venice Commission and the representatives of their national minorities, who have since voiced their dissatisfaction with the new law.
According to the Fidesz representative, the Venice Commission will treat this matter as a priority, and it can give an assessment of the law in a few months. He also emphasized that it is also in Ukraine's basic interest to bring minority protection into line with international standards.
"A fundamental condition for Ukraine's EU integration is compliance with international minority protection legislation, which is also required by the Copenhagen criteria for accession"
he underlined.
Zsolt Németh also reported that the Hungarian delegation achieved many results at the ET parliamentary assembly. As an example, he mentioned that the legal committee of the parliamentary assembly unanimously accepted the Hungarian report, which evaluates the implementation of Hungarian-related decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights. As he said, Hungarian performance has improved significantly in the past period compared to the results of other countries.
The representative also said that the general assembly accepted the report on the fourth ET summit, in which forward-looking recommendations were formulated regarding the final document of the meeting. The recommendation places great emphasis on respecting minority rights, which is a very important prerequisite for "European democratic security". It also highlights the need for cooperation between the European Union and the Council of Europe, especially in the field of enlargement policy, added Zsolt Németh.
Source: MTI
Front page photo: National conquest monument in Vereck, which is sometimes painted by Ukrainian nationalists. Photo: Béla Varga / MTI