The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s State Secretary for Information and the International Representation of Hungary expressed his hope that the situation that has developed with relation to legislation that is negatively affecting the life of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia will be successfully resolved with the recently elected new Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Tamás Menczer spoke about this at a press conference in Gárdony on the shores of Lake Velence on Wednesday, at which the main topic was the provision of free holidays in Hungary to the children of families affected by the fighting in Eastern Ukraine.

According to the State Secretary, the first statements by the new Ukrainian President are cause for “cautious confidence”. “Hungary has always striven to maintain good neighbourly relations with Ukraine, as proven by the fact that in previous years Hungary has supported Ukraine’s euro-Atlantic and visa-free travel aspirations, in addition to providing aid to the war-torn country with vaccines and the chlorine required for drinking water”, Mr. Menczer emphasised.

“It is precisely for this reason that the Education Act and later the Language Act adopted during the term of the previous President, and which are aimed at restricting the use of minority languages in every walk of life, were a stab in the back”, he said, adding: “This is an international issue, not a bilateral issue”. With relation to the camp in Gárdony, which has been organised every year since 2015, he told the press: “242 children will be camping on the shores of lake Velence this year, towards which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing 25 million forints (EUR 77,000) in funding”.

(MTI)