Ukraine and Hungary meet but fail to make progress on blocking European aid

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Head of Foreign Affairs of ukraine And Hungary They met near the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod on Monday as European leaders tried to persuade Hungary’s prime minister. viktor orbanRemoving its veto for 50 billion euros of aid European Union For Ukraine.

Orbán is widely considered the closest ally Kremlin In the EU, she has said she will not support funding aid through the 27-member bloc’s budget, frustrating other EU leaders who have been trying to persuade her to change her position further. . Summit in Brussels on ThursdayIn which they will try again to approve the financing.

the meeting was on monday first trip Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjártó, is on a visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and the only official bilateral meeting With his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in the last two years.

Szijjarto said the amendments Ukraine made to its education and language laws late last year “undoubtedly stopped a negative spiral” that has eroded the rights of ethnic Hungarians in the Zakarpattia region of western Ukraine to study in their native language. Was banned. But he also said those changes were not enough of a solution. Controversy over linguistic rights of Hungarian minorities Which has dominated the bad relations between the two countries for years.

Szijjarto said Hungary “hopes that members of the Hungarian national community will regain the rights they already have in 2015,” adding that “there is still there’s still a long way to go“, although “on behalf of Hungary, we are ready to do this work.”

Kuleba, for his part, said that he considers the question of the Hungarian minority “fundamentally resolved“, but a joint committee will be established to examine how Kyiv can address Budapest’s new demands regarding Ukraine’s Hungarian community and present those findings to the respective governments within ten days.

Tensions rise between neighboring countries after Budapest blocks EU provision financial and military assistance Refused to provide weapons to Kiev and Ukraine or to allow passage across the Hungarian border. After the meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries, no information has come to light about any progress on this issue.