The Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Dmitry Kuleba said that Kiev will not be able to receive invitations to the NATO summit in London because of the situation with Hungary.
In May, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the summit of the Alliance Leaders Summit will be held on December 3-4, 2019 in London. Earlier, Foreign Minister Peter Siyyarto said that Budapest would remove the veto on negotiations between Ukraine and NATO after the Transcarpathian Hungarians returned the right to study in their native language, which was limited by the Law on Education.
The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that Ukraine’s cooperation with NATO “is blocked on the top political level by Hungary.”
“We inherited these problems, they have not yet been resolved. Now Hungary does not change its position, and accordingly, Ukraine will not be able to receive an invitation, because the decision on the invitation is sent by consensus,” – Kuleba said on air of the UA: Perviy TV channel in Monday.
In October 2018, Ukraine and Hungary exchanged the deportation of consuls. The reason was the dissatisfaction of Kiev with the issuance by the consulate of Hungary in the city of Beregovo, Transcarpathian region, located near the Hungarian border, of Hungarian passports to Ukrainian citizens. Budapest threatened Kiev with obstacles to European integration. In addition, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed its protest to the Ambassador of Hungary, Istvan Iidarto, in connection with the statements of Prime Minister Viktor Orban about the impossibility of cooperation between the two countries.
Tensions between Ukraine and Hungary arose against the backdrop of discussions about the Ukrainian law on education, which significantly reduced the possibility of learning in the languages of national minorities. The law entered into force on September 28, 2017. It will be put into operation in stages – until 2020. The governments of several countries, including Hungary and Romania, said that this law violates the rights of national minorities in Ukraine. Moscow also believes that the law on education violates the constitution and international obligations of Kiev.