Hungary lifts veto on Ukraine's EU talks

Budapest promises to unblock the next two stages of Ukraine's EU accession talks. The condition is the expansion of educational and language rights for national minorities, primarily Hungarians in Transcarpathia. The Verkhovna Rada is expected to consider the relevant bill on October 12.

As reported by the BBC, the vote in the Verkhovna Rada is scheduled for October 12. The bill was registered on October 1 by Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk and deputies from various factions, including opposition ones. The relevant committee supported it unanimously.

The document was coordinated for several months with Budapest and the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has already responded positively to the proposed changes.

According to the BBC, in exchange for their adoption, Hungary promises to unblock the opening of two negotiating clusters — blocks of issues on which a country agrees to the terms of EU accession. This refers to "Internal Market" and "Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth". Their opening is expected next week in Brussels.

This will be the next step after the June agreement: then Hungary unblocked the first cluster — "Fundamentals" — in exchange for Kyiv's commitment to amend legislation on national minorities.

The main news of the bill is the introduction of a special status for national minority schools. As clarified by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, this status can be obtained by schools where more than half of the students are taught in the language of a minority that is an official EU language. According to the ministry's calculations, 149 schools — about 1.2% of all general secondary education institutions in the country — will be able to apply for this status.

To maintain the status, the proportion of students taught in a minority language must be at least 20%. The possibility of duplicating signs, school documentation, and, upon parental request, education documents in the minority language is also provided.

Additional rights will apply to official EU languages and languages of indigenous peoples of Ukraine. They do not extend to the Russian language.

According to the BBC, graduates will be able to request a translation of entrance exam tasks into their native language. Exceptions include tasks in Ukrainian language and literature, as well as foreign languages.

At the same time, the Ukrainian language remains a mandatory part of education. To expand the list of subjects taught in it in the respective class, written support from at least two-thirds of parents will be required.

The dispute over the language of instruction for Hungarians in Transcarpathia dates back to Viktor Orbán's premiership. In 2023, Ukraine already expanded minority rights, allowing instruction in their languages alongside the state language. But Budapest considered these changes insufficient. The demands remained even after Magyar came to power.

The new bill could address Hungary's main concern, but fears about language policy remain in Ukraine. Volodymyr Viatrovych, a deputy from "European Solidarity," proposes simultaneously supporting a comprehensive bill on the support of the Ukrainian language in the first reading.

According to him, Ukraine should "not only hastily adopt fragmentary decisions on minority languages under external pressure, but also pursue a consistent and systematic language policy."

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