What Kyiv has done for Hungarian minority and what it expects from a government led by Péter Magyar
The victory of Péter Magyar and his Tisza party in Hungary’s parliamentary elections should be viewed with cautious optimism.
He considers resolving the issue of the Hungarian minority’s rights to be a key condition in relations with Ukraine, although Kyiv has done more on this issue in recent years than ever before.
Read more in the column by Ukrainian MP Yuliia Hryshyna of the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian prliament] group on interparliamentary relations with Hungary: The rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia: what Ukraine has done and what it expects from Hungary.
The author recalls that another serious deterioration in relations with Hungary came in 2020, when Ukraine's Law "On Complete General Secondary Education" introduced a more detailed model for the language of instruction, increasing the share of teaching conducted in Ukrainian.
"For the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia, this became a truly painful issue that significantly worsened relations between our states. It was from that point that interparliamentary dialogue effectively stopped, and Ukrainian-Hungarian relations entered a period of prolonged crisis," the MP writes.
At the same time, she stresses that Ukraine has completed most of its part of the work in relations with Hungary, and goes on to list specific decisions.
On 13 December 2022, Ukraine adopted the Law "On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine" – the first systemic law in this sphere since independence.
Then, in December 2023, parliament passed draft law No. 3504-IX, which became a turning point.
The law restored the right of European national minorities to study in their native language, secured the use of minority languages in the educational process alongside the state language and expanded rights in media, advertising, public life and local self-government.
"In effect, the model that existed before 2017 was restored, precisely the one the Hungarian side had insisted on and which corresponded both to the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and to the European Commission’s requirements for EU integration," Yuliia Hryshyna notes.
A total of 317 MPs voted for the law, demonstrating not a situational compromise but a pragmatic and consolidated position of parliament.
In addition, after the 2023 amendments, the possibility emerged to study in Hungarian within Ukraine's higher education system. Soon afterwards, the National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) was also made available in Hungarian.
"This shows that Ukraine is not merely declaring the protection of rights, but aligning the entire system with that principle," the MP stresses.
She also recalls that in the first quarter of 2024, work began on the 11 points formulated by the Hungarian side.
These concern a broad set of issues, primarily in education and language policy: from the language of instruction in schools and the use of Hungarian in the educational process to the use of the language in public life, the functioning of authorities and certain aspects of political representation.
"As of today, part of these issues has already been resolved, or real compromise solutions have been found. This applies, in particular, to the NMT, the use of Hungarian in education, the protection of humanitarian and cultural rights, and certain aspects of public life. Ukraine is ready to continue the dialogue in order to restore constructive partnership relations between our countries," the author writes.
Yuliia Hryshyna emphasises that while protecting the rights of national minorities is a fundamental European principle, protecting and preserving the Ukrainian state language is equally a principle.
According to her, the issue is not choosing between Ukrainian and Hungarian, but ensuring a model that is normal and traditional for most European countries: native language as a right, state language as an opportunity.
"We changed the legislation. We restored language rights. We held negotiations and opened dialogue. And we did this not formally, but concretely and effectively… The issue is no longer Ukraine. The issue is whether there is a shared readiness to take the next step. And now is precisely the moment to do so," the MP concludes.