We show you the details!
"We are not asking for new rights for Transcarpathian Hungarians; the rights that existed before 2015 are returned"
says the letter.
Hungary sent a letter to the member states of the European Union, in which it draws attention to the fact that the situation of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine has not improved, and that the demands that Hungary made in this regard have not been fulfilled so far.
During his visit to Transcarpathia at the end of January, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó emphasized:
"We are not asking for new rights for Transcarpathian Hungarians; the rights that existed before 2015 are returned.”
Since then, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has received a written response from Ukraine on this matter, but no progress has been made in practice. This is probably the consequence of the letter with a similar content sent to the EU member states.
About the contents of which the Ukrainian Radio Svoboda, which acquired the document, wrote,
"in the letter, the Hungarian side emphasized that the protection of national minorities is a priority during Ukraine's EU accession negotiations, and therefore Hungary demands that the rights of the Hungarian community in Ukraine be restored to the pre-2015 level".
According to the medium, they also emphasized that the Hungarian government mainly demands the restoration of the general rights guaranteeing the free use of the Hungarian language, as well as the right to political representation, the latter at the regional and national level. Currently, 20,000 students are studying in Ukrainian schools with Hungarian as the medium of instruction, but as the document states, "despite prior promises, the suggestions of representatives of the Hungarian community were not taken into account in the education of Hungarians, including when determining the subjects."
The document also states that the proportion of the region's population has changed due to the reorganization of administrative districts in Ukraine.
"The mandatory ten percent ratio, which national minorities must reach within the local population in order to claim language rights, is not justified in the case of national minorities"
they said.
They also blamed the fact that the Hungarian community does not have its own national minority representative in the Ukrainian parliament.
All of this may be discussed at the upcoming video conference of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Dmitro Kuleba.
Featured image: Facebook/Péter Szijjártó
