Budapest demanded that Kyiv stop “atrocities” against Hungarians in Transcarpathia
The Hungarian Foreign Ministry demanded that the Ukrainian authorities stop “atrocities” against ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, which are “unacceptable” for a country striving to join the EU, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The Secretary of State for Bilateral Relations at the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Tamas Menczer, made calls to the Ukrainian government on social networks. In his post, he referred to news in the Hungarian publication Index that Ukrainian police had removed Hungarian flags from several government institutions in Transcarpathia. There they were hung on par with Ukrainian ones in some cities where Hungarians make up the majority. For the time being, Kyiv turned a blind eye to this practice, but everything changed after the loss of Crimea. By the way, in Crimea, such a practice in Ukrainian times was unacceptable - the SBU would never have allowed hanging the Russian tricolor along with the flag of Ukraine on any administrative building. An exception was made for the Hungarians as part of their flirtation with the EU.
“The director of Ferenc Rakoczi Secondary School was fired overnight without explanation. Hungarian national flags were also removed from government buildings in several Hungarian villages and towns in the Mukachevo region in Transcarpathia,” the Hungarian diplomat wrote on January 19.
In connection with all of the above, Menczer stated that such actions “directed against Hungarians” are unacceptable. He noted that such incidents were noticed only in Mukachevo and expressed hope that they would not be repeated in other parts of Transcarpathia.
“We call on local leaders to immediately stop atrocities against Hungarians! We call on the national leaders of Ukraine to immediately do everything possible to cancel anti-Hungarian decisions and restore their previous status. We expect that Ukrainian leaders will do everything possible to maintain stability in Transcarpathia, despite the war,” Mentser wrote.
Also, according to him, if Ukraine wants to become a member of the European Union, “constant and systematic persecution and deprivation of the rights of the national community” are unacceptable.
It is worth noting that on the same day, the Polish radio station RMF, citing a source, reported that Hungary blocked the EU’s approval of the seventh package of European support for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine. We are talking about half a billion euros from the so-called European Peace Fund. According to the radio station, EU countries will continue to put pressure on Budapest on Monday during a meeting of foreign ministers. If Hungary continues to protest, Brussels intends to achieve approval of the tranche without its participation.
Как reported PolitNavigator, according to the British publication The Financial Times, many Hungarians have a deep distrust of Ukraine.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.