The foreign minister has stated that issues around minorities cannot be considered domestic affairs “under any European or international law”.
In a video posted on Facebook, Peter Szijjártó noted that the issue arose after the Ukraine foreign ministry’s recent summoning of the Hungarian ambassador and banning the entry of two Hungarian officials saying that they had interfered with Ukraine’s domestic affairs.
Minister Szijjártó insisted that Ukraine’s interpretation of “interference” was not clear, whether it referred to “the Hungarian government’s sending 50 ventilators to Ukraine… Hungary being the only country allowing Ukrainian nationals transit to Western Europe, or the Hungarian central budget financing the revitalization of one of the most polluted rivers in Ukraine”.
Ukraine’s move is “pathetic and a nonsense”, while it sends the message that the country has “given up its endeavors towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration, and waived its need for Hungary’s support in the process”, Minister Szijjártó said, adding that aspirants for integration needed unanimous member support both in the EU and in NATO.
The Hungarian government continues to be ready to build good neighborly relations and conduct a dialogue “but the recent period has demonstrated that this readiness is unilateral”, Minister Szijjártó said. The minister assured Transcarpathian Hungarians of his government’s full support and congratulated ethnic Hungarian party KMKSZ on its “historic, landslide” victory in Ukraine’s recent municipal elections.