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FM: Ukraine’s NATO integration is not a timely matter

NATO has required from Ukraine the implementation of a reform program in which, at Hungary’s initiative, provisions on observing the rights of the country’s national communities had also been incorporated.

After a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Brussels on Wednesday, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said that Ukraine’s NATO integration was not timely for two reasons. One, he said, was that the alliance’s basic treaty disallows the integration of a country fighting a war because it would risk the outbreak of a third world war. The other, Szijjártó said, was that a country where national minority rights were being constantly restricted had no place in the alliance which is a community of values. NATO has required from Ukraine the implementation of a reform program in which, at Hungary’s initiative, provisions on observing the rights of the country’s national communities had also been incorporated, said Szijjártó. “The Hungarian government will monitor the enforcement of these NATO-level expectations as closely as possible,” he said, adding that Hungary had maintained its position ever since the restrictions including the Hungarian community’s right to the use of their mother tongue had been put in place eight years ago.