Hungary comes up with obstacle for Zelenskyy-Orbán meeting
Photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó (Getty Images)
A meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán will not happen until Kyiv "returns the rights" to the Hungarian national community, says Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
He states that the Ukrainian response to Budapest's 11 demands concerning the rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia was purportedly "unconstructive."
The minister notes that during the meeting in Uzhhorod, he told the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, and the head of Zelenskyy's office Andriy Yermak that Hungary expects the return to the Hungarian national minority in Transcarpathia of the rights it had before 2015.
Budapest decided to provide Kyiv with an 11-point document on what decisions the Ukrainian side should make.
"The document in response received from the Ukrainian side does not contain any progress in this area," says Szijjártó.
Zelenskyy and Orbán meeting
The minister adds that Hungary will send its official response to Ukraine within the next day. According to him, the conditions for a meeting at the highest level, namely between Zelenskyy and Orbán, allegedly cannot be fulfilled until Kyiv passes laws that "return the rights" of the Hungarian national community.
Background
On January 29, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Peter Szijjártó came to Uzhhorod, where he met with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, and the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak. The officials noted that the negotiations would concern the normalization of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations.
Szijjártó said that the meeting of the Hungarian prime minister with the Ukrainian president would make sense "if it can produce results." Hungary's demands towards Ukraine usually concern the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia.
The Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ihor Zhovkva, said that a framework law on national minorities was adopted in Ukraine by the recommendations of the European Commission. Then, at the request of the Venice Commission, all but one recommendation was implemented.
Back in December, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accepted the invitation of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a bilateral meeting.
