Szijjarto, Transcarpathian leader discuss Ukraine education law

If Ukraine adjusts its public education law according to the interests of Transcarpathia's ethnic Hungarian minority, then Hungary will engage in consultations with its government towards an agreement, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after meeting the leader of the Cultural Association of Transcarpathian Hungarians (KMKSZ) on Thursday. It is in the interest of Ukraine's 150,000 ethnic Hungarians that Hungary maintains a good relationship with their homeland, Szijjarto told a press conference. Hungary has been the most vocal supporter of Ukraine's EU accession, he said. But the latest amendments to Ukraine's public education law severely infringe on the acquired rights of the Hungarian community, Szijjarto said. Hungary will continue to block Ukraine's EU accession attempts and will thwart efforts to convene a session of the NATO-Ukraine defence ministerial committee, too, unless its government changes its stance, Szijjarto said.