More and more people are talking about the curtailment of the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarian minority: Zsolt Németh warns that acquired rights cannot be taken away, Andrea Bocskor hopes that Kiev will listen to the Venice Commission, László Brenzovics is confident that an agreement will be reached in the time available until next September about Hungarian education, and the Hungarian government is calling for an end to the disenfranchisement.

The Hungarian government calls on the Ukrainian parliament, government and the president of Ukraine to end the disenfranchisement of the Hungarian minority and return the rights that the Hungarian community previously had in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, said Tamás Menczer, responsible for bilateral relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Secretary of State on Thursday in Budapest, at a press conference.

At the same time, the government is calling on Brussels and the Brussels bodies to finally put on the agenda the deprivation of rights affecting the Hungarian minority, to take meaningful steps so that the Hungarians get back their previously existing and taken away rights.

Immigrants and different sexual minorities are equally important to Brussels, it would be time to deal with a problem that is extremely serious and a real minority protection issue, said Tamás Menczer.

He referred to the recently adopted amendments to the Ukrainian Education Law, the Language Law and the Law on Minorities, and pointed out that these are clearly well-thought-out measures based on each other, which are completely contrary to bilateral treaties, international agreements and all European values.

Tamás Menczer explained: the education law takes away the right and opportunity to study in the mother tongue from Hungarian students. It states that students who have been able to study in their mother tongue for at least 20 percent of the annual curriculum from the fifth grade, at least 40 percent of the curriculum from the ninth grade, and at least 60 percent of the curriculum from the tenth grade are required to study in the state language, i.e. Ukrainian.

He pointed out: the political goal of the Ukrainian party, that everyone should learn Ukrainian, will certainly not be achieved by this law, because a language can be taught in a language class.

Tamás Menczer emphasized: the goal is to completely wither education in the Hungarian language, this is another step towards the assimilation of the Transcarpathian Hungarian community. If there is no mother tongue education, there is no need for a Hungarian teacher, and parents also wonder why they should send their child to a Hungarian school.

He denied that the entry into force was postponed from September this year to September next year. The law will enter into force this September for the fifth and sixth grades, he said.

The situation of Transcarpathian Hungarians was also discussed in Strasbourg on Wednesday, where a conference on the situation of minorities in Ukraine organized on the occasion of the summer session of the 46-member Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was held.

Hungary stands by Ukraine, respects the unity of the country, considers it important to preserve its independence, but at the same time, the war cannot serve as an excuse to limit human and minority rights, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament stated at the event.

Zsolt Németh called the creation of the Venice Commission's report on the Ukrainian minority law a welcome and milestone. The opinion published on June 13 is a breakthrough, because it "orders Ukraine to stop" in the area of ​​human and minority rights, he underlined.

"Acquired rights cannot be taken away. Acquired rights must be restored. The process of Ukraine's European integration can greatly facilitate this in the coming period," added Zsolt Németh.

Andrea Bocskor, the European Parliament (EP) representative of Fidesz, emphasized that the narrowing of minority rights in Ukraine has been continuous for years, and expressed the hope that, following the opinion of the Venice Commission and pressure from the European Commission, Kyiv will also be willing to amend those points of the minority law , which represent a radical deprivation of rights compared to the previous regulation of 1992.

László Brenzovics, the president of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Organization (KMKSZ), said that the biggest problem, besides the war, is that laws were passed in Ukraine in the recent period that significantly restricted the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians and other minorities in Ukraine.

"Ukraine must return to the European standards that used to be part of legal practice in Ukraine," he underlined, adding that the National Minority Education Act adopted last December would create a situation where, if it had not been postponed until September 2024, the Hungarian-language education.

"All this would have caused chaos and a decline in Hungarian education, which is unacceptable," he stated, expressing his hope that the period available until next September will be sufficient to reach a compromise with the Ukrainian government bodies that will satisfy the educational needs of Transcarpathian Hungarians.

MTI