L-R: File photo of Andrii Sybiha and Péter Szijjártó in Budapest
Due to the continuous deterioration of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, responsibility clearly lies with Kyiv, but the government remains committed to dialogue, which is why the head of Ukrainian diplomacy is visiting Hungary this week, said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Monday in Budapest.
At a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart, Péter Szijjártó explained that it was not Hungary that took away the rights of Ukrainians living in Hungary, but Ukraine that is constantly taking away the minority rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia (western Ukraine).
“How can relations be improved? By the Ukrainians giving back all the minority rights they took away from the Hungarians. It is entirely up to them. If anti-corruption legislation could be repealed in a minute under European pressure, then minority rights could also be restored in the same amount of time,” he said.
“The problem is that while the EU considered the role of corrupt institutions in the Ukrainian state administration to be more important for some reason, they are not at all interested in the fate of Hungarians in Transcarpathia,”
he continued.
“The European Union’s Commissioner for Enlargement (Marta Kos- editor’s note) told me this in a face-to-face conversation in Copenhagen, bluntly telling me that corruption was more important to them than minority rights. That is the situation,” he added.
Péter Szijjártó emphasized that he remains committed to ongoing dialogue, and that his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, will be visiting Budapest this week.
“I am ready to discuss all these issues with him. Over the past eleven years, I do not know how many dozens of times I have met with four different Ukrainian foreign ministers. I always said what we wanted, and the opposite always happened, but how can I put it, diplomacy and foreign policy are like that, we shall try again,” he said.
Recently, MEP Kinga Gál, Vice President of Patriots for Europe group, also criticized the European Commission, noting that even Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef admitted, “if there is political will, the Commission has competence in the area of traditional minority protection.” His remarks come after two Hungarian-initiated civil initiatives have been ignored.
It is therefore scandalous that in recent years, two Hungarian-initiated civil initiatives for minority protection have simply been swept off the table! He drinks wine but preaches water,”
she said, calling on the Commission to ensure adequate protection for traditional national and linguistic minority communities.
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Via MTI; Featured photo: MTI/Hegedüs Róbert
The post Ukrainian Foreign Minister to Visit Hungary as Bilateral Tensions Persist appeared first on Hungary Today.
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