The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary has debunked information that a political dialogue between the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Vasyl Bondar, and the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs of Hungary, Levente Magyar, has yielded agreement on issues related to the language norms of the law On Education, as reported by Radio Liberty.

“There has been no agreement on the education law, Ukraine still has not complied with the recommendations issued by the Venice Commission,” said Press Secretary of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Tamash Mentser.

Mentser repeated the main contention of the Hungarian government, which maintains that prior to the implementation of the new law On Education, Ukraine must agree to all cultural and educational issues with national minorities living in its territory, particularly the Hungarian minority.

“We are glad to hear that from all appearances those consultations will start soon. The Hungarians living in Zakarpattia (far-west Ukraine) can rest assured of the full support from the government of Hungary,” Mentser said.

At the same time, the Hungarian official said it was too early to talk about changes in the official position of Budapest, which took a harsh approach promising to block any international moves of Kyiv or its European aspirations until it sees eye to eye on all issues related to the law On Education between the Ukrainian authorities and Hungarians living in Zakarpattia.

“But there is a long way to go,” the Ministry’s spokesman said.

Just the day before, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Vasyl Bondar, announced that in recent negotiations with a Hungarian parliamentary official there was an understanding reached on key issues regarding the implementation of language norms of the law On Education.

  Hungary, Ukraine, law on education

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