Hungary stands up in unison against new Ukrainian education law

Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-12 01:09:58|Editor: yan
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BUDAPEST, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- All five Hungarian political parties of the Parliament jointly called on Ukrainian President Petro Porosenko here Monday to veto the new Ukrainian education law and send it back to the Ukrainian Parliament.

"An anti-European law can be created that violates fundamental human and minority rights, which could lead to further instability in Ukraine," Zsolt Nemeth, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament told at a press conference after the meeting of the parties.

"The new law is detrimental to the national minorities of many countries, which is also why Romania, Bulgaria and Poland took the same position as the Hungarian," he added.

Levente Magyar, State Secretary for Parliamentary affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, welcomed the unified alignment of the parties for this national interest, he underlined that "Hungary would not suspend but rather increase the humanitarian and development assistance Ukraine has received in recent years, because the beneficiaries of the aid are not responsible for the new law."

The new Ukrainian legislation deprives the national minorities of the country to learn in their mother tongue, endangering their survival in their native land.

According to the law, the language of secondary and higher education is now Ukrainian, while the language of minorities is only allowed in kindergartens and elementary classes (first four years).

According to Hungary, this is an unprecedented violation of the rights of nationalities living in the country, including about 150,000 Hungarians, and also completely opposed to the constitution of Ukraine.

"It is our duty to protect the Hungarian people, whether they live in Hungary, beyond the border, or even thousands of kilometers away," said Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Monday at a press conference.

Szijjarto explained that he had talks with Laszlo Brenzovics, President of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia: "On telephone, we agreed on further steps to take regarding the Ukrainian education law."

He also told that he would address the OSCE Secretary-General, the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities and the President-in-Office of the OSCE, in a letter of intent and urgency.

Likewise, Szijjarto urges action by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Secretary-General of the European Council. He pointed out that all international institutions should be used in order to prevent the "shameful" lawmaking.

The minister emphasized that this law was not only seriously violating the Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, the Association Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Ukraine, but also the Ukrainian constitution itself.

"Ukraine stabbed Hungary in the back," he concluded, recalling that Hungary had been the strongest supporter of Ukraine in the visa waiver program, by transporting gas to Ukraine, and was the first to ratify the Association Agreement with the EU.

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