Kiev hates Hungarians

Ukraine, which in the West is connected to a ventilator, provokes another anti-Hungarian move. The government now wishes to reserve the decree that from now on teachers and students will be able to talk Hungarian only from the 5th afternoon, after the school hours have ended.

According to the fresh decree, Hungarian doctors cannot consult their patients in Hungarian besides in Zakarpacie (pictured by Hungarian castle in Mukaczew), reads an article published on origo.hu. The applicant for EU membership Ukraine is planning another astonishing anti-Hungarian step. The Ukrainian government wants to decree that from now on teachers and students will be able to talk Hungarian to each another in Hungarian schools in Zakarpacie only from the 5th afternoon, after the school hours have ended. In addition, Hungarian doctors cannot consult their patients in Hungarian in Zakarpacie.

Fidesz MEP Andrea Bocskor He called the fresh means nonsense. To become a associate of the European Union, Ukraine must warrant the rights of national minorities even before accession negotiations begin. A large deal of attention is presently being paid to Ukraine in connection with the planned enlargement of the EU," said the Euro MP. "The situation of number rights has not improved a bit due to the fact that decrees are issued that even cleaning staff cannot talk Hungarian in schools. This shows that Ukraine does not want to give equal rights to its minorities, nor does it comply with the provisions of the Venice Commission," said Andrea Bocskor.

The European Commission has proposed that associate States start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. This was announced by the president Ursula von der Leyen 8 November, after reviewing the readiness of the candidate countries and adopting the accession reports of those countries.

The seventh request is to regulate the legal situation of national minorities in a way that takes account of the recommendations of the Venice Commission. In this context, however, the study analysing Ukraine's advancement in terms of conditions of accession states that although Ukraine has made advancement in this area, the Venice Commission's recommendations are inactive not met on a number of issues and should be addressed. The European Commission besides recognises that Ukraine has much to do with this requirement.

In line with the requirements set out by the European Commission, Hungary considers that Ukraine must comply with the recommendations of the Venice Commission on the rights of national minorities without which Ukraine cannot become an EU member.

A large part of the global press has previously claimed that Hungary is blocking Ukraine's accession to the EU for no peculiar reason, solely for political reasons, and number rights are just a pretext for this. These votes may increase in the coming weeks and months, especially as the Hungarian authorities have announced that Hungary will block the beginning of negotiations with Ukraine in breaching national number rights in the country, including Zakarpackie Hungarians.

At the same time, this position fits perfectly into the European Commission's requirements, which make the seventh request to respect the rights of national minorities dependent on the opinion of the Venice Commission.

Ukraine has many opportunities to address this problematic situation. A concrete solution, which can besides be supported from the Hungarian point of view, was outlined by the Venice Commission, which consists of a discrimination between minorities utilizing the authoritative languages of the EU (Bulgarian, Greek, German, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Hungarian) and another number languages (Russian, Belarusian). According to the Venice Commission, this discrimination can be justified legally in the context of the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine. Although the Ukrainian constitution contains a provision on a warrant of protection of Russian language, the Authority stated that, in connection with Russian aggression, Ukraine may legally suspend this provision for a time, allowing a discrimination to be made between the 2 types of minorities.

This is an chance for Ukraine to reconstruct the language and educational rights of the EU's authoritative language, including Hungarians, which existed before 2017. This seems to be a clear political solution, as it would let Kiev to make a motion towards the EU and the EU associate States concerned, in peculiar Hungary and Romania, whose approval and support Ukraine needs in order not to block its accession to the EU.

Behind: Magyar Hirlap

photo public domain