The foreign minister has urged the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) special Ukraine mission to set up a permanent presence in Transcarpathia, where ethnic Hungarians are often become physically threatened and “supporting indigenous minorities is not a priority for the European Commission”.
Following talks with Kairat Abdrakhmanov, OSCE’s new high commissioner for minorities, Péter Szijjártó said that “Brussels has slammed the door” on ethnic minorities. “The European Commission has made it clear that supporting illegal migrants is much more important than promoting the cause of indigenous ethnic minorities in Europe,” he said, in wake of the commission’s announcement that there would be no legal consequences of the Minority SafePack civil initiative.
“This is a disgrace; an unacceptable decision by the EC, therefore for us, Hungarians, it is important to call the attention of other international organisations and ask for help in cases when the rights of ethnic Hungarian communities are violated,” Minister Szijjártó said.
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