Hungary and Ukraine to launch expert-level consultations on rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia

Expert-level consultations between Hungary and Ukraine aimed at resolving the issues surrounding the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia are getting underway, Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán announced on her Facebook page. This was agreed upon over the weekend during a telephone conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, with representatives of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia also being involved in the consultations.

Anita Orbán noted that both sides have appointed their negotiating delegations, which will hold their first round of talks online. Discussions are set to begin as early as Tuesday, and according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, they could lay an important foundation for the prompt and satisfactory resolution of issues surrounding minority rights. “I am confident that the dialogue will be constructive and productive, and that the negotiations will bring tangible progress for the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia in the near future. I wish the delegations every success and productive work in this endeavor,” the Tisza government’s Foreign Minister wrote, concluding her post.

According to MTI, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced on his ministry's official website that he had a “constructive and substantive telephone conversation” with Anita Orbán over the weekend, during which they agreed to hold a round of expert-level Ukrainian-Hungarian consultations this week in order to “find practical and robust solutions for the situation of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia.”

Sybiha thanked his colleague for the Hungarian government’s “principled and swift reaction” to the recent Russian strikes against Ukraine and reaffirmed that his country is ready to immediately turn a new, mutually beneficial chapter in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations. “We are prepared to work with the new Hungarian government on all issues of our bilateral agenda, including the national minority topic, with the aim of restoring trust and good-neighborly relations between our countries.” According to Andrii Sybiha, during the phone call he raised the question of how Ukraine could become a member of the European Union as soon as possible and reiterated his country’s “readiness for the sooner opening of negotiation clusters”.

Prior to Monday's cabinet meeting, Péter Magyar discussed the subject with António Costa, President of the European Council. In a post on his official Facebook account, the Hungarian Prime Minister wrote that he had informed Costa about the beginning of the negotiations. “President António Costa informed me that he made it clear to the Ukrainian president yesterday that any further steps must be preceded by respect for the rights of the Hungarian minority living in Ukraine.”

The opening of negotiations about the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia also signals that the Tisza government will pursue a foreign policy that is quite different from what Fidesz stood for. The first sign of this diplomatic shift was that on behalf of the government, Anita Orbán strongly condemned last Wednesday’s Russian drone attack, which also reached Transcarpathia,and then summoned the Russian ambassador.