Fidesz MEP calls on Ukraine to restore rights of Hungarian minorities

A Fidesz MEP has called on Ukraine to take the protection of the rights of the Hungarian minority seriously, saying: “We won’t accept any blather”.

Fidesz MEP stands up for minority rights

Viktória Ferenc called it “surprising” that enlargement commissioner Marta Kos had commended Ukraine for “considering the requests of Hungary on respecting the rights of the 150,000-strong Hungarian community in Transcarpathia”, and the Hungarian MEP insisted that their rights had not been restored.

Ferenc called on Ukraine to “address the protection of the rights of the Hungarian minority immediately”.

Noting that the European Parliament’s foreign affairs (AFET) and budgetary (BUDG) committees held talks with Kos on the topic of the Ukraine Facility designed to aid the EU’s efforts on the recovery, reconstruction and modernisation of Ukraine, Ferenc said on Friday that “we’re talking about Ukraine’s reconstruction and modernisation while the destruction is still going on. The risk is great: what they build today might be ruined tomorrow. People are dying…”

Brokering peace must be the first and foremost step in resolving “the issue that affects the whole of society”, she said, adding it was “crucial” that EU funding should be used to meet the “real needs” of the nation “that has suffered so much”.

She said Kos had not brought up any substantive programme for bolstering the mental health of the “people who have survived a war”.

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