Szijjarto says Budapest will not block Klimkin's arrival for NATO summit

Hungary will not lift its "veto" on holding meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, but will not block the invitation for the Ukrainian and Georgian foreign ministers to attend a NATO foreign ministers' meeting.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said this in Brussels on November 19, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"I can agree with the format of a meeting with a representative of Ukraine attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, which is similar to what we had during the last NATO summit. Only the presidents of Georgia and Ukraine were invited at the time. We did not oppose it. If the foreign ministers of Georgia and Ukraine are invited to a meeting of NATO ministers in December, we will also do the same," Szijjarto said.

At the same time, according to the Hungarian minister, Budapest will continue to block the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, given that, in his opinion, no progress was made on the issue of minority languages.

Szijjarto also stressed that he did not agree with the requirements of the EU and NATO to consider the language dispute between Ukraine and Hungary as a bilateral matter.

Relations between Hungary and Ukraine escalated after the adoption of the Ukrainian law on education, which defines Ukrainian as the language of instruction in the country. Hungary said the law allegedly violates the rights of the Hungarian minority. Ukraine denied these allegations, but Budapest is blocking Ukraine's rapprochement with NATO, where all decisions are made only by consensus.

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