Govt official: Hungary wants Transcarpathia to act as bridge to EU

The Hungarian government wants western Ukraine's Transcarpathia region to act as a bridge to the European Union, "which Ukraine is admittedly aspiring to join anyway", a government official said in Berehove (Beregszasz) on Wednesday. Istvan Grezsa, ministerial commissioner for the development of Transcarpathia and the government's Carpathian Basin kindergarten development programme, was speaking at a joint press conference with Denes Torok, head of the Association of Hungarian Large Families of Transcarpathia (KMNE), to announce KMNE's purchase of a guesthouse in Viska (Viharos) for large families with support from the Hungarian government. "We'd like it if the chasm being widened by Ukrainian politics between Uzhhorod (Ungvar) and Kiev disappeared, because our goal has never been to pursue any kind of separatist aspirations, as has been unjustly alleged, but rather to help Ukraine's westernmost county serve as a link and a bridge to the European Union," Grezsa said.