Hungarian Community of Ukraine Calls on Orban to Support Country's Accession to EU

A number of leaders of the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia, a Ukrainian region near the border with Hungary, have appealed to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the leadership of the European Union to support Ukraine's European integration, the Hungarian publication Blikk reports.

The relevant letter was published on Facebook by the Democratic Union of Hungarians of Ukraine.

The appeal calls for support for the decision to open negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union, scheduled for 14-15 December.

The signatories point out that over the past year, Ukraine has shown progress in implementing the European Commission's recommendations to ensure the rights of national minorities. In particular, this applies to the new draft law on national minorities, which "significantly reflects the interests of national minorities" and enjoys the support of the Hungarian community.

At the same time, the authors express the hope that the provisions of this law "will be implemented in the normative documents of Ukrainian legislation, taking into account all the proposals submitted by NGOs of Transcarpathian Hungarians".

"We strongly urge all leaders of the EU member states to continue to support Ukraine on its European integration path. This progress in ensuring democracy and minority rights is an integral part of the Copenhagen criteria for membership, and we believe that Ukraine deserves to be supported in its efforts in this direction," the letter reads.

The signatories of the statement include the mayor of Berehove, Zoltan Babyak; a member of the Transcarpathian Regional Council, Judit Petei; the head of the Berehove District Council, Carlo Rezesh; the head of the Transcarpathian Regional Charitable Organisation, the Foundation for Ukrainian-Hungarian Regional Youth Development, Yosyp Rezesh; and the head of the NGO, the Democratic Union of Hungarians of Ukraine, Laslov Zubanych.

Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, arriving at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, said that three of the four laws required to start negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership had been adopted, including the law on education, which Hungary had demanded.

Hungary has been systematically blocking any positive decisions on Ukraine in the EU. While in Buenos Aires, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy managed to talk to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, calling the conversation "as frank as possible". However, neither the Ukrainian nor the Hungarian side provided specific details about the subject of the conversation.