Ukraine to ban Hungarian national anthem and flag?

The parliament in Kyiv is to accept a bill which would regulate the use of different state symbols, including national flags and anthems. If accepted, the Hungarian flag could not be placed on public buildings, and representatives would be allowed to sing only the Ukrainian national anthem when they start and finish their sessions.

Ukraine would like to become a member of the European Union and NATO, which Hungary vetoes as long as the country’s ethnic policy does not change. It seems, however, that the administration of Volodymyr Zelensky remains on the track of former president Petro Poroshenko in this respect. According to politic.karpat.in.ua, a new bill was submitted in the Kyiv parliament which would regulate the use of different state symbols, including national flags and anthems.

The document has many supporters in

war-torn Ukraine where the coronavirus is spreading unstoppably.

The “patriots” say that such bills serve Ukraine’s interests. However, politic.karpat.in.ua says that if the bill was accepted, it would provoke conflicts with a lot of the country’s neighbours, starting with Hungary.

The website adds that the “problem” with the Hungarian flags is not new in Transcarpathia, a Western county of Ukraine populated by – among others –

almost 150 thousand Hungarians.

Ethnic Ukrainians coming from other parts of the country often ask why there are so many red-white-green flags on the different public institutions and buildings. However, locals always say that those are not the official flags of Hungary but the flag of the Hungarian nation (the official flag contains the coat-of-arms as well). Furthermore, local leadership allowed the flags to be placed on public buildings in 2008, and everything the law does not forbid is lawful.

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Based on the lawmakers submitting the bill, all government and public buildings are Ukrainian. Thus, there cannot be the flag of another country on them. Interestingly, 29 representatives of the Servant of the People, For the Future, and Trust parties submitted the document from which the first one is the president’s political community. Moreover, Anatolij Kosztyuh wrote most of it, who was elected in Transcarpathia.

If accepted, the new law would mean that

no Hungarian flags can be placed on public buildings, local governments, and the companies owned by local governments.

The only exception would be if foreign delegations came. Moreover, the law suggests all representatives of the local governments sing the national anthem of Ukraine when they start and finish their sessions. Finally, it would forbid doing so in the case of other country’s national anthems, like the Hungarian one.

Source: politic.karpat.in.ua