The EU has received a letter from the Hungarian minority in Ukraine - not exactly what might have been expected

HUNGARY - In Brief 12 Dec 2023 by Istvan Racz

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The Alliance of Hungarian Democrats in Ukraine has released an open letter, addressed to Charles MIchel, president of the EU Council, and Viktor Orbán, Hungary's prime minister, on its Facebook page over the last 24 hours (please, see below), emphatically urging EU decision-makers to support the start of accession talks with Ukraine at their upcoming summit on December 14-15. They wrote that in the past year, Ukraine has made big steps to implement the EU Commission's recommendations regarding the rights of ethnic minorities. The related new act, recently endorsed by the Ukrainian parliament essentially reflects the interests of ethnic minorities, and it enjoys the Alliance's full support. They also trust that the act will be appropriately implemented. The letter concludes that Ukraine deserves support from the EU in its efforts to carry out important reforms, even under the circumstances of Russia's full-scale invasion of the country. The importance of this letter is the fact that so far, the inadequate rights of the Hungarian ethnic minority have served as a permanent point of reference for Mr. Orbán's government in the negative sense. They repeatedly mentioned this issue as a key reason why Ukraine cannot get more support from the EU. It seems that the letter is actually addressed to Mr. Orbán, asking him to change his negative stance on Ukraine, at the last minute before the upcoming key EU decision. This all comes at a bad time for Mr. Orbán, who is currently seeking parliamentary approval for his negative stance on Ukraine, in the form of a resolution, which can be referred to as a binding decision at the EU summit within a few days.