Magyar demands wider rights for Hungarians in Ukraine before EU accession talks — agency – World

NEW YORK, April 30. /TASS/. Peter Magyar, the leader of the Tisza party and soon-to-be Hungarian prime minister, has demanded wider rights for the Hungarian minority in Ukraine before he approves the start of accession talks for Ukraine, Bloomberg has reported, citing sources.

According to the agency, during a meeting with European Council President Antonio Costa, Magyar put forward demands that partially align with the position of current Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. These demands concerned, in particular, access for the Hungarian minority to education in their native language.

The agency noted that Magyar and Costa’s meeting was not as positive as his talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, although the future Hungarian prime minister later described the dialogue with the head of the European Council as useful and constructive. Bloomberg also noted that Magyar’s tough stance could disappoint Kiev and Brussels, which had hoped that Orban’s departure would give momentum to Ukraine’s EU accession process.

Magyar will be elected prime minister at the first session of the new parliament on May 9. His party won the April 12 elections and secured more than two-thirds of the seats in the top legislative body.

The outgoing government of Viktor Orban has also for years demanded that Kiev restore the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, warning that otherwise it would not allow Ukraine to join the EU. Budapest has repeatedly stated that after 2015, ethnic Hungarians living there were deprived of their rights, including the right to use their native language in culture and education.