Hungary postponed negotiations with Ukraine regarding national minorities: Ministry of Justice
Hungary canceled the meeting with the Ukrainian delegation scheduled for May 12, which was supposed to take place in Uzhgorod and become the start of a permanent dialogue on the issues of national minorities. About this on May 11 reported Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
Earlier, both countries agreed to create expert groups to consider 11 recommendations put forward by Hungary. The Ukrainian side hoped to receive the first intermediate results already during the consultations that were to be held on May 12.
Hungary insists on changing the Ukrainian legislation in the part that concerns the protection of the rights of national minorities, in particular the Hungarian community. These include, in particular, the recognition of schools as Hungarian even if there is one class with Hungarian language instruction, the abolition of restrictions on the size of the Hungarian-speaking population for the status of “Hungarian territory”, the introduction of changes to the electoral system in order to ensure the representation of Hungarians in the parliament, as well as the abolition of the mandatory command of the Ukrainian language for civil servants.
It will be recalled that on May 9, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiga stated that the parties are preparing for negotiations on the future accession of Ukraine to the EU. And the Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna previously confirmed that regular consultations were to start on May 12 to resolve all controversial issues and advance the European integration process.
Despite the fact that all 27 countries of the European Union have agreed to start negotiations on the accession of Ukraine, Hungary is still blocking this process.
