“Budapest was the only one Kiev held real negotiations with regarding regulations on the rights of Ukraine’s minorities,” said human rights expert Vyacheslav Likhachev in his interview with Libertatea, Romanian daily newspaper. As the council member of the Kiev Center for Civil Liberties said, “Kiev fears more criticism from Hungary as this could result in more obstacles in Ukraine’s path to European or Euro-Atlantic membership.”
According to the expert, Hungarian politicians could accept a compromise in the form of financing private schools where all subjects can be taught in minority mother tongues in Ukraine – and the law allows for this.
He believes Budapest’s subdued reaction to the latest approved minority laws in Ukraine are a sign of this compromise. The expert also discussed how Kiev’s government is run by Ukrainian nationalist politicians who believe minorities are getting too many rights.
According to Likhachev, Ukraine is not obligated to fund full-fledged educational programs in minority mother tongues, and the solutions resulting from the negotiations with Budapest satisfy the recommendations of the Council of Europe.
The political scientist also said that prior to passing these new minority laws, there were no consultations with minority representatives. He added that there were several dissatisfied opinions from Ukraine’s Hungarian, Romanian, Polish and German minority communities.
Likhachev noted that since the invasion of Ukraine, national minorities have been very cautious to avoid criticism from Kiev.
“Russia justified the invasion due to the violated rights of the Russian-speakers in Ukraine; thus, Ukrainian national minorities are afraid to criticize Kiev, lest they be accused of supporting the Kremlin’s official narrative. This is a kind of self-censorship resulting from the war. Minorities are trying to avoid being accused of playing for Russia,”
– explained the expert.
Vyacheslav Likhachev stated that although the issue of minority rights law is not all that important to Ukrainian society, multiple Ukrainian experts have voiced criticism against the laws. According to them, the regulation does not correspond to the European approach and amendments should be introduced to eliminate confusing wording.
Deprivation of rights. At the end of December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed off on the law concerning minority rights; passing this law was one of the requirements set forth for Ukraine to join the European Union. According to the two major Hungarian representation groups in Transcarpathia, the law not only strengthens the previously codified legal restrictions on minority rights, but also introduces new ones. Máté Paczolay, Chief of Press at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told our newspaper: the law still fails to secure the right to representation of national minorities, nor does it provide for the possibility of representation in local politics or public administration. It does not ensure the free use of national symbols, makes it difficult to support minority organizations, and makes it impossible for media portals to operate in minority languages.
Photo: Istvan Mirkó
