Ukraine’s fast-track accession to the European Union was among the topics discussed at Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. Following the meeting of the member states’ foreign ministers, Péter Szijjártó stated that Brussels intends to sacrifice the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarian community merely to admit Kyiv to the EU at an accelerated pace and without the conditions imposed on other candidate countries.
The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade further emphasized that it was entirely unacceptable for his Ukrainian counterpart—who joined the meeting online—to describe the issue of the Hungarian minority as an ‘artificial problem’. He added: ‘It is also scandalous that some EU member states have lined up behind the Ukrainian foreign minister’s position, and some foreign ministers have even gone so far as to question whether we Hungarians, the Hungarian government, have the right to judge the situation of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia at all.’
Szijjártó stressed that Hungary firmly rejects Ukraine’s fast-track EU accession, particularly if it comes at the expense of the Transcarpathian Hungarian community. He added that the Hungarian government will not accept any attempt to strip the country of its right to stand up for its national communities abroad or to assess their legal status.
The Hungarian foreign minister also criticized his German and Austrian counterparts, who had attempted to lecture him on the alleged improvements Kyiv had made regarding the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians. However, he highlighted that the reality is quite different, as Ukraine has been ‘systematically violating the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia for ten years.’ He vowed that as long as there is a Hungarian government committed to national values, it will continue to fight for the restoration of these rights.
‘Ukraine has been “systematically violating the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia for ten years”’
Following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Kyiv gradually curtailed the rights of national minorities. While these measures primarily targeted the Russian minority, they also significantly affected the daily lives of Transcarpathian Hungarians. Restrictions were imposed on education in the mother tongue, the use of national symbols, and other cultural expressions. Meanwhile, acts of vandalism against Hungarian national symbols increased, most notably the removal of the Turul statue in Mukachevo (Munkács) in 2022.
Szijjártó met former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba in January 2024, where he reiterated Hungary’s demand for the restoration of Hungarian minority rights and presented an 11-point list of requests. These included clarifying the legal status of national minority schools, reinstating the possibility of Hungarian-language matriculation exams, and ensuring the unrestricted use of Hungarian in higher education, public administration, and cultural life.
Szijjártó concluded by warning Kyiv that the continued deprivation of Transcarpathian Hungarians’ rights could result in a Hungarian veto on Ukraine’s EU accession. ‘It would be good if everyone understood clearly that it is not Hungary that wants to join integrations of which Ukraine is already a member, but the other way round,’ he remarked.
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