Hungarian PM seeks meeting with Zelenskyy, raises concerns over Hungarians' rights in Ukraine
Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hungary’s incoming prime minister Péter Magyar (RBC-Ukraine collage)
Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, wants to arrange a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as early as the beginning of June, according to his post on Facebook.
Meeting with Zelenskyy
According to the leader of the Tisza party, he met with Berehove Mayor Babják Zoltán. They discussed the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine and the horrors of the war.
"We agreed that it is in the interest of Hungarians living in Transcarpathia to put Hungary-Ukraine relations on a new footing. Based on this, I intend to initiate a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in early June—symbolically in Berehove, a predominantly Hungarian town," Magyar said.
Rights of Hungarians
He called on Ukraine to "lift restrictions that have been in place for more than ten years" so that Hungarians in Transcarpathia can "regain all their cultural, linguistic, administrative, and educational rights."
The incoming Prime Minister believes such a move would help encourage as many Transcarpathian Hungarians as possible to return home after the war ends.
"If we manage to resolve these issues, we will certainly be able to open a new chapter in Ukrainian-Hungarian bilateral relations," Magyar added.
In his view, higher education in Ukraine still "remains monolingual," as graduation exams are conducted in Ukrainian, and "no significant changes have occurred" in the use of language in other official spheres.
He also said that "restrictions remain in public life and culture: events and media in Hungarian can operate, but within quotas, registration requirements, and formal limitations."
Ukraine is preparing talks with Magyar
On April 13, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Budapest had already received signals about the possibility of a meeting between Péter Magyar and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He stressed that Ukraine is ready to implement the highest EU standards in the field of national minorities.
