Two days ago, the Ukrainians said that they would fulfill the requests of the Orbán government, but now they consider most of them impossible. They also dispute the historical fact that Transcarpathia was once part of Hungary.

"We are sincerely committed to solving the eleven problematic issues raised by the Hungarian side in order to protect the rights of national minorities, and to fully implement them based on this. And we will continue the bilateral consultations with Hungary in this direction," Deputy Prime Minister Olha Sztefanisina stated in Luxembourg two days ago. On Thursday, however, the Ukrainian press already wrote about the fact that he promised this only under "coercion" and that several of the Hungarian points cannot be met, Magyar Hírlap writes in its news summary and evaluation.

Hungary's requirements are categorically unacceptable for Ukraine. They are guaranteed to be rejected by both the parliament and the Ukrainian society"

- wrote Evropejszka Pravda on Thursday, to which the list of the requests of the Orbán government, which had been kept confidential until now, was leaked at the request of the Hungarian side.

The paper recalled that "Hungarian Minister Péter Szijjártó handed over the eleven-point list to Dmitro Kuleba and Andrij Jermak at a meeting in Ungvár in January 2024. (…)

Hungary demands the cancellation of a series of amendments to the minority law, which Ukraine implemented after the "Revolution of Dignity". Hungary's vision is to restore the norms in force under Yanukovych."

While they write that Hungary "blackmailed" Ukraine and "gave it an ultimatum" and that the Orbán government "crossed the red line again", they admit that Budapest has modified the points several times due to the sensitivity of Kiev. Some of these were symbolic, such as the omission of the word autonomy, which according to the Ukrainians was necessary because of Crimea, but the Hungarian side also refrained from introducing the institution of national advocates.

One of the problematic issues from the beginning, according to the Ukrainians, was that, following the Hungarian example, every national minority could send at least a non-voting national advocate to the Verhovna Rada. Kiev, on the other hand, said that the request affects the "protected" part of the Ukrainian constitution, and it could only be amended by a referendum, which cannot be held in the conditions of war.

So the Ukrainians are accusing Hungary of blackmail despite the fact that Budapest has been constructive in the discussion so far. In addition, Kiev has not yet fulfilled any of the requests, so the Orbán government agreed to the start of Ukraine's accession negotiations with advance confidence. He only asked that the Ukrainian government publicly commit to continuing the negotiation and fulfilling the requests.

This was done by Olha Sztefanisina, but right after that someone leaked the Hungarian list to the press, and now all Ukrainian news reports that she only acted under duress. I mean, quite obviously

they want to force the Hungarians to back down - either directly or through their Western supporters.

Ukrainszka Pravda wrote: half of the list refers to Hungarian-language education, including ensuring the use of the Hungarian language in the entire educational process, as well as the introduction of the status of "general and secondary education institution of the national community".

There are also clauses that refer to the status of areas historically inhabited by Hungarians in Ukraine, "for example, all settlements in Zakarpattia should automatically be recognized as 'traditionally Hungarian', even those where Hungarians have never historically lived".

According to these

Ukrainians dispute the historical fact that Transcarpathia was once part of Hungary.

The paper then noted: "Some of these points are problematic and no compromise was reached."

After that, he continued: "Another part of the Hungarian demands concerns the political representation of national minorities, especially the requirement to ensure the parliamentary representation of national minorities. However, due to the impossibility of the idea, Budapest has already indicated that it is ready to give it up, although it has not withdrawn the demand completely."

According to Ukrainian news reports, "consultations on the document are currently underway", but

based on the comments, it does not seem at all that Kiev is seeking an agreement.

As for Deputy Prime Minister Sztefanisina's claim that she was sincerely committed to solving the eleven problematic issues raised by the Hungarian side, it was revealed after two days that it was not true. But he cannot be held accountable for this, since he was "forced" to say what he did.

Front page photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (b) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi (j) on the first day of the two-day summit of the European Union in Brussels, June 27, 2024, in the photo published by the Prime Minister's Press Office.
MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltán Fischer