Hungary will block and veto all moves in the EU which would advance Ukraine’s European integration process, Hungary's foreign minister said following Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signing the country’s new education law.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the President has just signed a law which deprives minorities of their rights and leads down a blind alley instead on the path to the European Union.
The law also violates several international agreements which Ukraine had promised to fulfil as part of its European Union accession plans, including making education and training available in the mother tongue at all levels.
“Hungary’s constitutional obligation is to raise its objections to the law at every international forum in the interest of protecting national minorities, including the Hungarian minority," Hungary’s Human Resources Ministry said in a statement.
The Human Resources Minister has called on his Ukrainian counterpart to hold talks with the representatives of Hungarian communities in Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) who have been left out of the legislative process.
The Hungarian government said it would continue to be open for talks with Ukraine in the interest creating fair regulations governing minority language education. Furthermore, Hungary continues to offer humanitarian aid to the country.