“The latest expert opinion issued by the Venice Commission has once again made it clear that the Language Act adopted during the period in office of the previous Ukrainian President strips national communities of their existing, previously acquired rights with relation to the use of their native languages”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Saturday.

In the statement, Mr. Szijjártó wrote: “It has therefore been proven that following the Education Act, the Language Act also goes against international law and the commitments Ukraine has undertaken to fulfil”.

“The legislation supported by previous Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the previous parliament in Kiev were aimed at eliminating the use of minority languages in every area of life”, he added, stressing that this is unacceptable to Hungary.

However, the Hungary government still thinks “new president, new hope”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, referring to Volodymyr Zelensky, who was elected in the spring.

“As soon as the Transcarpathian Hungarians are given back the rights that have been taken away from them, Hungary will once again support Ukraine’s NATO integration process, but not until then”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

On Friday, the Venice Commission called ion Ukraine to repeal the sections of the act on the use of minority languages that differentiate between Ukrainian and the official languages of the European Union or non-official minority languages, in as much as such provisions are not based on objective and rational reasoning.

The Council of Europe’s body of constitutional law experts recommended that all interested parties, and especially the representatives of national minorities, be included in the drawing up of the act on the use of minority languages.

(MTI)