Hungary has provided a list of 11 demands regarding the protection of national minority rights. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna stated that Ukraine is actively working on agreeing to these demands. Negotiations between Ukraine and Hungary have been ongoing for six months, with both sides making proposals on each point of the list of demands.
It is expected that the list of steps will be finalized and approved at a leaders’ meeting. Ukraine and Hungary have been engaged in bilateral talks for six months regarding Budapest’s demands on protecting the rights of national minorities. Kyiv is ready to fulfill Hungary’s list of demands, consisting of 11 points.
Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, said that Ukraine is working on the demands concerning national minorities. According to Stefanishyna, this list was an element of the agreements made during the first intergovernmental conference.
“I want to emphasize that our agreement is to coordinate a list of steps and, on this basis, implement the list of 11 steps provided by the Hungarian side,” she said. According to her, Ukraine has been engaged in bilateral dialogue with Hungary for six months regarding the protection of national minority rights.
“I can confirm that none of the 11 points presented by the Hungarian side have been ignored. We have proposals for each of them,” said Stefanishyna. She expects that this list of steps will be finalized and approved during a leaders’ meeting.
It should be noted that Hungary’s Minister for EU Affairs, János Boka, stated that Ukraine is currently “very far from meeting the accession criteria.” He expects Ukraine to commit to adopting an action plan, including improving the rights of national minorities. Hungary, for its part, has prepared a list of 11 points. According to the minister, the most important issue is the structure of minority institutions, particularly cultural and educational ones.
