Poland opposes review of Ukraine-EU association proposed by Hungary
Poland is opposed to a review of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement, and calls on Kyiv and Budapest to resolve their disagreement regarding the Ukrainian law “On education” through dialogue, as stated by the Polish Foreign Ministry in response to an information request from Ukrinform news agency.
“Poland does not see an opportunity to review the Association Agreement or the Agreement to deepen the free trade zone with Ukraine. Poland calls on the partners from Hungary and Ukraine to resolve the disputed matter of the law on education through dialogue, on the basis of respect of the rights of national minorities and taking into account international and bilateral agreements,” the statement reads.
“At the same time, we note that the Polish ministries of foreign affairs and education are attentively following the matter of the influence of the relevant law on Polish education, and are in constant contact with the Ukrainian partners,” the Polish Foreign Ministry observes.
There are provisional plans for Ukrainian Minister of Education Liliya Hrynevych to meet with representatives of the Polish minority in Ukraine on October 26.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó proposed a revision of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. Szijjártó has had an extremely negative attitude toward Ukraine due to the adoption of the law “On education”. According to the law, children from national minorities in Ukraine will only be able to learn in their native language in the first grades, but from secondary school they will have to be taught in the state language of Ukraine.