Hungary urged the OSCE to send a permanent OSCE mission to the Transcarpathian region, due to tensions in the region. This was stated by the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto during the 24th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna.
“Hungary supports Ukraine in many spheres … we finance a lot of infrastructure and institutional projects, that is why the adoption of the law on education by the parliament (Ukraine) in September of this year was a real disappointment for us. This law takes away the existing rights of persons belonging to national minorities, with regard to education and instruction in their native language. It absolutely contradicts Ukraine’s bilateral and multilateral commitments, including OSCE commitments,” he said, stating the existence of “nationalistic sentiments” in Ukraine.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are concerned about the tension in the Transcarpathian region, where 150 thousand Hungarians live. There were anti-Hungarian demonstrations, which were joined by residents of other regions of Ukraine, during which there were desecrations of national symbols and anti-Hungarian slogans were chanted. In this regard, we insist on the permanent presence of a special monitoring mission (SMM) of the OSCE in the Transcarpathian region,” he said.