Ukraine's Deputy PM on Hungarian threats to block Ukraine's EU accession

Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, believes that political claims by Budapest about "blocking the accession" of Ukraine to the EU "will not hinder real work" on the issue of the language of education of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

Source: Stefanishyna for European Pravda, commenting on a claim of Budapest about its intentions to block the start of negotiations with Ukraine about its EU accession until the Hungarian demands concerning the language of education are met

Details: Stefanishyna noted that in September the meeting of a Ukrainian-Hungarian work group for education, during which the educational process was discussed in detail, was held for the first time in a long time. A few months before, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine prolonged the transitional period for the implementation of a new educational model recommended by the Venice Commission.

"We have sent a special delegation to Budapest where we presented our vision to our Hungarian colleagues. Following the results of the meeting the Ukrainian side has formed a precise action plan. A bill was prepared and registered in the Verkhovna Rada. The European Commission has also received corresponding documents and studied them.

Since then we have been in touch with the Hungarian side and we are sure that political statements will not hinder real work which we are doing every day for the representatives of national communities of Ukraine," Stefanishyna stated.

Background: Balázs Orbán, Political Director of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, stated that Budapest will block the start of negotiations with Ukraine about its EU accession until Hungarian demands about the language of education are met.

Stefanishyna warned the public not to be too emotional about the assessment report by the European Commission which will be published on 8 November, and stressed that the final decision about the start of negotiations will be made in December.

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