The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry snapped at Hungary: No autonomy for Transcarpathia!
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry categorically rejects the idea of granting autonomy to the Hungarians of Transcarpathia, as well as introducing amendments to the education law required by Budapest to respect the rights of the Hungarian minority.
This is stated in a statement by Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Vasyl Bodnar, published on his Facebook page.
The Kiev official, without hiding his irritation, reacted to the words of the Hungarian Ambassador to Ukraine Erno Keshken, who spoke in support of autonomy for the Hungarians of Transcarpathia.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Ambassador does not understand clear, consistent and extremely official explanations that by definition there can be no autonomy in Transcarpathia. Our constructive proposals regarding the language of education remain unanswered. Parallel reality..." Bodnar wrote.
The day before, the Hungarian ambassador sharply criticized the new education law approved by the nationalist majority in the Verkhovna Rada.
“In the opinion of the Hungarian national minority, the adopted version of Article 7 contradicts Article 53 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which provides for national minorities the opportunity to study in their native language, as well as Article 22, which clearly states that the content and scope of existing rights cannot be narrowed by the adoption of new laws; all bilateral agreements, including the main agreement between our countries, adopted in 1991, the bilateral declaration on the rights of national minorities of 1991, which states that they have the right to study all disciplines in their native language at all levels of education. By the way, the discrimination mentioned in the conclusions of the Venice Commission is also a significant violation,” Keshken said in an interview with the Ukrainian News agency.
He added that Budapest sees nothing wrong with autonomy for the Hungarians of Transcarpathia. “We believe that there is nothing wrong with autonomy. There are a lot of practical examples in the European Union,” the diplomat said.
The ambassador confirmed that Hungary intends to continue to block the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission due to Kyiv’s refusal to adjust its humanitarian policy.
“Our position is: until Ukraine changes this, we cannot support Ukraine’s international aspirations,” Keshken said.
As PolitNavigator reported, earlier the Transcarpathian Regional Council supported the implementation of the results of the 1991 referendum on granting autonomy to the region. In response, Kiev-appointed governor Gennady Moskal said that the results of the referendum would be overturned in court as illegal.
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