Szijjarto calls on CoE to take issue of protecting European minorities seriously

Hungary calls on the Council of Europe to take the issue of protecting European minorities seriously, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Strasbourg on Monday. Speaking by phone to MTI during a two-day conference on the protection of minorities and regional and minority languages, Szijjarto said the various European institutions paid for by European taxpayers were more concerned about illegal migrants than national minorities that have dwelled in Europe for centuries. "This is unacceptable," he said, adding that it was wrong for a European institution to concern itself with Hungary's "Stop Soros" law aimed at ensuring the security of the Hungarian people rather than with the Hungarians of western Ukraine "whose rights are being seriously breached", he added. The conference is taking place to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.