Parts of Ukraine could be recognised as “traditionally Hungarian” in a steep set of demands from Budapest which have sparked fears that Ukrainian EU membership could be under threat.
Hungary took EU Council presidency for the very first time on Monday in an historic moment for the former Warsaw Pact state – but its new position has amplified concerns in the largely pro-Ukraine bloc over Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s attitude to his eastern neighbour.
The EU had formally opened accession talks with Ukraine back in December 2023; at the time, Orban had said: “EU membership of Ukraine is a bad decision.
“Hungary does not want to participate in this bad decision, and therefore stayed away from the decision today.”
Hungary has its eyes on Transcarpathia while Russia closes in on Ukraine’s east
GB News
Then just weeks ago on June 21, the EU opened membership talks with Ukraine in a move branded “historic” by the bloc’s top lawmakers – one of whom said the “future of Ukraine and its citizens lies within the European Union”.
Hungary – which maintains closer ties to Russia than other EU members and does not give arms to Kyiv – held up the start of the talks, citing concerns about the rights and treatment of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine, according to diplomats.
Then, Budapest’s track record on Ukraine and ties with Moscow had prompted the EU to swiftly push through new sanctions against Russia ahead of its assumption of the bloc’s presidency.
But it’s the issue of minority Hungarians in Ukraine which has prompted the most concern in Volodymyr Zelensky’s embattled country.
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Hungary had set out a series of demands of Ukraine in order for it to progress towards EU membership
Reuters
Ukrainian media reported that Hungary had set out a series of demands of Ukraine if it were to gain the former’s consent to join the EU – key among which is the treatment of “ethnic Hungarians” in Transcarpathia, Ukraine’s western-most oblast.
According to Orban’s administration, those ethnic Hungarians should be able to speak and use Hungarian in official settings, including administrative services and education – going against Ukraine’s attempts to bolster the use of Ukrainian over minority or foreign languages in the country.
Budapest has demanded that Transcarpathia be recognised as “traditionally Hungarian” – in a move which would only further undermine Ukrainian territorial claims after a decade-long campaign by Putin’s Russia against five oblasts in the country’s east.
In 2014, Russia had annexed Crimea – then, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin’s forces had done the same to four of Ukraine’s eastern regions: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – an act rejected by most UN member states as illegal.
Putin has also tried his hand at claiming Ukrainian territory
Reuters
Russian ceasefire ambitions have also left Ukraine’s eastern oblasts under threat
GB News
The full-scale handover of those claimed post-2022 has been the centre of Putin’s conditions for a “ceasefire” in Ukraine – proposals seen as equivalent to surrender in Ukrainian eyes.
The “maximalist” conditions – entirely at odds with those demanded by Ukraine – are a reflection of Putin’s confidence that his troops have taken the upper hand in the conflict as their grip tightens on Ukraine’s embattled east.
Putin said: “As soon as they declare in Kyiv that they are ready for such a decision and begin a real withdrawal of troops from these regions, and also officially announce the abandonment of their plans to join Nato – on our side, immediately, literally at the same minute, an order will follow to cease fire and begin negotiations.
“I repeat, we will do this immediately. Naturally, we will simultaneously guarantee the unhindered and safe withdrawal of Ukrainian units and formations.”
However, Ukraine said the conditions were “absurd”.