Hungary insists on prolonging implementation of Ukraine’s education law

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said this at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and Education and Science Minister of Ukraine Lilia Hrynevych after the talks in Zakarpattia region, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Minister Hrynevych said that Ukraine respected and complied with the recommendations of the Venice Commission on the law on education. We hope that on the basis of this statement the Ukrainian government will get the parliament to adopt a law on prolonging the transition period for the implementation of the new law on education. Today, my colleagues have unequivocally stated that they will try to do this. We also expect the recommendations of the Venice Commission to be complied with. In particular, we expect that the new law on education will not be applied to private schools," Szijjártó said.

He noted that the Government of Hungary was interested in good relations with Ukraine. "We are already nostalgic about our interaction until September 2017 when we discussed new border crossing points, visa-free regime, infrastructure. In recent months, our talks are limited to the law on education. We are neighbors, we have common interests and we must struggle for them. However, at the same time, we will make every effort for the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia to enforce their guaranteed rights, which are regulated by the international laws ratified by Ukraine," Szijjártó noted.

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