Hungary sees positive progress in talks with Kyiv on national minority rights

Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban said in an interview with Telex that she expects favorable outcomes soon in talks with Ukraine on the issue of national minorities. She noted that Hungary and Ukraine have managed to smooth over misunderstandings in their relations, including a dispute linked to the so-called "Carpathian Eight" initiative.

Orban said that during the week of meetings around the UN General Assembly, she met several times with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. She added that she stays in daily contact with Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, who oversees a draft law intended to settle the education rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia.

According to Orban, the bill is expected to be submitted to the Ukrainian parliament no later than October. She explained that communication with Ukraine's foreign minister currently happens daily, while contact with the deputy prime minister takes place by phone depending on how events unfold, with the goal of seeing positive results by October at the latest, when the education-rights bill could reach the Verkhovna Rada for consideration.

As previously reported, on September 1 Hungary again withheld approval of the screening results for EU accession clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine, demanding that Kyiv take specific legislative steps regarding the Hungarian national minority.