Hungary will review the agreement on Association of Ukraine with EU

Hungary will review the agreement on Association of Ukraine with EU

Hungary intends to revise the Association agreement, the European Union (EU) and Ukraine in response to Kiev’s adoption of a new law on education, said the Minister of foreign Affairs of Hungary Peter Siarto during the meeting in the Hungarian Diaspora of the country. It is reported by Magyar Nemzet.

The head of the Hungarian foreign Ministry said that the new education act creates the worst situation for Hungarians in Ukraine than in the Soviet times. The foreign Minister of Hungary stressed that the measures of the Ukrainian government are “well thought out strategy of internal politics.”

According to Szijjártó, the only way to force Ukraine to change the law, violating the rights of minorities is to increase international pressure on it.

“With these measures is the abolition of the Association Agreement [EU-Ukraine — RBC], which requires the expansion of minority rights, which should be prevented by international pressure,” he said.

The Minister added that the situation, when the EU banned the education in the mother tongue, is “unacceptable.”

In late September, Hungary, in connection with the adoption of Kiev of the new law on education, has threatened to block any steps to further Ukraine’s European integration. On 3 October, the Hungarian foreign Ministry criticized the new Ukrainian law on education. The foreign Minister of the country Peter Siyyarto called it a “stab in the back”.

The new Ukrainian law on education signed by President Petro Poroshenko on 25 September. Under its provisions, national minorities can receive education in their native language only until the fifth grade, whereas now they have that opportunity in high school. Furthermore, even the teaching in the native language need to be among the “indigenous peoples” of Ukraine, a list of which, however, is not legally approved.

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