Hungary and Romania to jointly oppose Ukraine’s education law
Budapest considers Ukrainian law on education a "blow in the back". Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Siyatro considers it quite natural and normal that Hungary and Romania together oppose the new law of Ukraine on Education. He made this statement during his visit to Romania after meeting with his Romanian counterpart Theodor Meleshkanu, Radio Liberty reports.
Siyatro said that Hungary is interested in creating and maintaining a strategic contact with Romania on this issue, because "it is much better to create success stories than to deal with conflicts".
He also noted that, according to him, the law on education contradicts the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the signing of which was supported by Budapest and Bucharest. Because of this, the minister said, he regards the adoption of Ukrainian law as a "blow in the back" to two states.
At the same time, the minister sees a "serious threat" in the fact that bills on language and citizenship have also been submitted to Ukrainian parliamentarians.
In his opinion, if the Verkhovna Rada legislatively accepts proposals of the parliamentary commission on culture, the cultural and educational opportunities of the Hungarian and Romanian minorities will be significantly narrowed.
More than half a million Hungarians and Romanians live in Ukraine, and therefore Hungary and Romania are acting together, the minister said.
As previously reported, on September 5, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the education reform, the basis of which is the law "On Education". On September 25, Petro Poroshenko signed the corresponding law. On September 28, the document came into force. This law caused a sharp critical reaction in Hungary, Romania, Poland, as well as criticism of Bulgaria, Greece, Russia. The chairman of Transcarpathian regional administration Hennadiy Moskal and socio-cultural organizations of Transcarpathian Hungarians addressed President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko not to sign the bill.
The law, in particular, provides that children from ethnic minorities in Ukraine will learn their native language from the first to the fifth grade, and study in the state language from the middle school. It is also separately stipulated that when languages of national minorities belong to the languages of the European Union, it is possible to teach one or more disciplines on it.