Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto, published a powerful post on Facebook, in which he clearly articulated the position of the Orbán government towards Ukraine’s western aspirations.
“Under no circumstances will Hungary support Ukraine’s transatlantic and European integration as long as Hungarian schools in Transcarpathia are threatened,” he said on Facebook.
This is not the first time that Hungary has expressed doubts about Ukraine’s aspirations.
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Shijjarto: Ukraine discriminates against the Hungarian minority
In his intervention, the Minister stressed that, despite the assistance provided, Ukraine still discriminates against the Hungarian minority.
Sigarto estimates that “while 1,300 schools and kindergartens in Hungary accept refugee children and students from Ukraine, 99 Hungarian primary and secondary schools in Ukraine are threatened with closure due to the Ukrainian Education Law.”
The politician asserts that since 2015, a number of laws have been passed in Ukraine, which are gradually violating and limiting the rights of the Hungarian minority related to the use of their mother tongue. “For eight years, the Ukrainian authorities have been constantly promising us to solve this problem, but in reality they have done nothing,” he said.
Szijjarto met with UN Deputy Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilse Brandis Khreis. In an interview, the politician stressed that Hungary will not be able to support Ukraine’s integration across the Atlantic and into Europe as long as Hungarian schools in Zakarpattia are discriminated against.
Russia thinks it is fighting NATO in Ukraine
After invading Ukraine in February, Russian authorities continue the narrative that they are fighting NATO there, even though Ukraine is not a member of the alliance. The war started by Vladimir Putin has turned into the largest armed conflict in Europe since 1945 and the fall of Nazi Germany.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there would have been no Russian invasion if Ukraine had joined NATO. Because of the war, Sweden and Finland expressed their desire to join the alliance, which the member states accepted in June at the Madrid summit. Hungary and Turkey are the last countries that have not yet ratified Sweden and Finland into NATO.
NATO currently consists of 30 countries from North America and Europe that cooperate in the military field. The last enlargement occurred in 2020, when North Macedonia was accepted into the alliance.
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