The Hungarian government admits the possibility of changing its position on blocking the start of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations, Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar said after a meeting with Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Taras Kachka in Budapest.
According to Magyar, the main topic of discussion was the reasons why Budapest still refuses to support Kyiv's European integration aspirations. Special emphasis was placed on the situation of Transcarpathian Hungarians.
"The Deputy Prime Minister promised that he would personally join the bilateral process, the goal of which is to jointly find solutions to controversial issues in the field of minority rights. We are ready to continue, but we finally expect real steps from the Ukrainian side," Madyar emphasized.
He also warned Kyiv against further declarations without concrete content:
"We have already heard so many new promises over the past decade that they could even dam rivers larger than the Danube," the Hungarian diplomat wrote on his Facebook page.
During his visit to Hungary, Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka separately visited Ukrainian schools in Budapest and held talks with Minister for EU Affairs János Boka and Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nady.
The main topics of the meetings were Ukraine's path to the EU, the issue of minority rights, and the security situation in the region.
Thus, despite the harsh rhetoric of Hungarian officials, Budapest is signaling its readiness for negotiations if Ukraine can confirm its intentions not only with words, but with concrete actions.
