Kyiv presents Budapest with plan to stop Hungarian minority dispute blocking Ukraine's EU bid
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Ukraine has provided Hungary with a detailed roadmap on how to resolve disputes over minority issues, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said on Ukrainian national television on Nov. 8.
"We handed them a detailed roadmap of how we saw the issues raised by the Hungarian government being resolved," she said.
It was important for Ukraine that the European Commission's report did not have a "Hungarian trace" and that it was impartial, she said.
"And I want to draw attention to the fact that the European Commission in its report confirmed Ukraine's progress, confirmed that the rights of national minorities meet the Copenhagen criteria set for EU member states," the deputy PM said.
Ukraine has now called for an agreement and feedback on the proposals, Stefanishyna added.
On Sept. 21, the Verkhovna Rada passed the "European integration" bill No. 9610 on national minorities. On Nov. 3, it was signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The draft law on national minorities is one of the main requirements for the start of negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union. In December 2022, it was adopted in its entirety, but the EU’s Venice Commission was not fully satisfied and recommended revising a number of provisions, most of which relate to the use of minority languages.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis also asked Zelenskyy to reconsider this law.
For years, Hungary has also blocked Kyiv's cooperation with NATO, claiming a "policy of violating the rights of national minorities."
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