Hungary has sent a document to the European Union countries in which it claims Ukraine for the protection of the Hungarian national minority. Budapest insists that the rights of national minorities be restored to the level that existed before 2015, Radio Liberty reported. This issue is one of the main ones in Ukraine's EU membership negotiations. Hungary has two main demands: the restoration of rights guaranteeing the free use of the Hungarian language, and the restoration of the right to political representation at the regional and national level.
The document notes that Ukraine has neglected the needs of the Hungarian community in determining the subjects to be taught in Ukrainian. Hungary is also dissatisfied with changes in the population ratio following changes in the boundaries of administrative districts. "The compulsory 10% ratio that national minorities have to achieve among the local population in order to claim language rights is not justified in the case of national minorities," the letter says.
In early December, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed a law on the rights of national minorities in certain areas, UNIAN news agency reported. It is reported that the positions insisted on by Hungary were taken into account when working on it. However, it opposes Ukraine's European integration. In particular, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called the country "one of the most corrupt in the world". At the end of last year, representatives of the Hungarian communities in Transcarpathia signed an address to Orbán urging him to support the start of negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership. /BGNES
