Ukraine must respect the rights of its ethnic Hungarian minority if it wants to join the EU, Hungary’s new prime minister, Peter Magyar, has said.
An estimated 80,000 Hungarians live in Ukraine, mostly in the western Zakarpattia Region. Their status has long been a point of contention between the neighboring countries, especially during the premiership of Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orban, who repeatedly blocked Kiev’s efforts to move closer to the EU.
On Friday, the two countries signed what Magyar described as a historic agreement on the education, linguistic, cultural, and political rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine. He said Kiev committed to incorporating the deal into its EU Minority Action Plan. In return, Budapest lifted its veto on Ukraine’s EU accession process.
In a video message posted on social media, Magyar said Ukraine’s integration into the bloc will be “a long and complex process,” comparing it to Montenegro’s accession path, which began in 2012.
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