Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, a member of the German Green Party EP, disputes that the Hungarian minority is oppressed. "If we look at the rights Hungarians have in the region, we can hardly find another minority that has more rights," he told t-online. The politician then called Fidesz EP representative Andrea Bocskor was shocked by her colleague's words, and responded to them in an open letter.
Despite your visits to the region, I can only regretfully suspect that your impressions of the current situation in the region, ethnic relations, are very incomplete, biased and based only on information from the Ukrainian state-supported media. On the other hand, it is outrageous that you are using the issue of Transcarpathian Hungarians to further fuel the EU's disputes with Hungary, confusing the limitation of minority rights with a dispute arising from a clash of political viewpoints. This is not only far from objectivity, but also unethical and completely false
- writes the Mandiner.
In order to get a complete picture, I recommend that you talk personally with the representatives of the Hungarian minority living there, as well as the representatives of the Romanian minority who are also affected by the Ukrainian minority policy.
The Hungarian representative said that he would be happy to accompany him on the trip, but it would be dangerous for him since he was added to the death or enemy list of the Ukrainian extremist nationalist website Mirotvorec in 2020.
Source: MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd
Bocskor added that he would be the happiest if the German politician were right, that the Hungarians have the most rights in the region, but unfortunately this is not true, so the Fidesz representative summarized in his open letter the facts about Ukraine's minority policy, as well as the factors that restrict the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarian (and several other) minorities.
He listed examples which
they present only a few of the larger, saddening repertoire of anti-Hungarian actions, intimidation and attempts to destroy minority symbols and ban their use
- the Fidesz politician pointed out, adding that the Hungarian minority is native to Transcarpathia and has lived in the region for more than a thousand years. Although the borders have been redrawn several times over the centuries, the community has survived to this day.
You can read the entire letter on Mandiner's website .
Cover image: Photo: karpatalja.ma
