“The NATO member states and Ukraine adopted the Hungarian proposal with relation to the NATO -Ukraine joint statement at the very last moment, after the expiry of the official deadline. This means that our stand in support of Transcarpathian Hungarians has achieved results”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Thursday.

“They eventually took our proposal into account after all, and accordingly the joint statement now expresses support for the Hungarian community that has been stripped of its rights and calls on Ukraine to abide by international law and the requirements of international organisations. This makes it clear once again that Ukraine must return the rights that it has taken away from national minorities within the fields of education and other areas of life”, Mr. Szijjártó said in the statement.

“As it has been able to until now, the 150-thousand strong Hungarian community in Transcarpathia can continue to count on the support of the Hungarian government; we will never sacrifice them on the altar of global political manoeuvring”, he added.

“Hungary is striving to maintain good neighbourly relations with Ukraine and is ready to begin consultations with the Ukrainian administration, as a result of which we will hopefully be able to rebuild our previous good neighbourly relations. We continue to profess: new president, new hope!”, the Minister stated.

(MTI)