Budapest's demands met: Szijjarto on starting Ukraine's EU accession talks

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó (photo: Getty Images)

Hungary supported the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union because Kyiv "satisfied Budapest's demands," states Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.

According to him, it is about the rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia.

"Our position from the very beginning was that respect for the rights of national minorities should be a precondition for any further progress. Some member states did not want to hear about this condition, but we made it clear that we insist on restoring the rights of minorities to preserve their national identity, use their mother tongue and be educated in their mother tongue," he wrote.

According to Szijjártó, there were fierce debates in Brussels and an agreement was reached: all Hungarian conditions were included in the framework document for negotiations with Ukraine.

"So now we have a document from Brussels stating that Ukraine must return to the Hungarians of Zakarpattia the rights taken away from them in recent years," the Hungarian Foreign Minister said.

Background

Back in December last year, Ukraine received the green light to start accession negotiations with the EU. To this end, relevant decisions were made in the bloc, including the approval of the negotiation framework.

However, Hungary blocked this decision several times, allegedly because of claims about Ukraine's policy toward national minorities.

At the same time, Budapest had no complaints about the start of accession talks with Moldova.

Yesterday it became known that the EU ambassadors approved the negotiation framework for Ukraine's accession to the bloc. Negotiations will begin on June 25.