Ukrainian foreign minister Klimkin: Hungary deliberately chooses line of confrontation in language issue

“I think that our Hungarian partners have deliberately chosen a line of confrontation. I will talk about this with Péter Szijjártó [Hungarian Foreign Minister] in Brussels in just two weeks, at the Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting. I repeat once again: this law is important but one should regard it as a support for the Ukrainian language, not as restriction of someone’s rights," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said at a joint briefing with Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Klimkin also noted that a separate law on the languages of national minorities should be adopted.

“We should help our citizens. We do not want Hungarians or Romanians or anyone else to become less Hungarian or Romanian. They belong to our political nation, they should have the right to get education in their language, of course, their rights should not be limited but at the same time they should be able to get a real chance to learn Ukrainian and understand what country they live in," the minister stressed.

Klimkin noted that he expected the Hungarian side to send such a political message but expressed hope for understanding between the countries.

As reported, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called unacceptable the law on language, which had been adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine on April 25.

The Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring the Functioning of Ukrainian Language as a State Language" contains recommendations of the Venice Commission regarding the consideration of the interests of national minorities in accordance with the international obligations of Ukraine.

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