Peter Magyar, the leader of the Tisza Party and incoming Prime Minister of Hungary, has demanded expanded rights for the Hungarian minority living in Ukraine.
During a meeting with European Council President Antonio Costa, Magyar emphasized the necessity of ensuring education in the native language for ethnic Hungarians in the Transcarpathia region. According to reports from Bloomberg, cited by the Operative Information Center-OMM, Magyar’s demands largely align with the position of the outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
This development has raised concerns in Kyiv and Brussels, where officials had hoped that a change in Hungarian leadership would accelerate Ukraine's path toward European Union membership. Magyar’s party secured a landslide victory in the April 12 elections, winning more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament, and he is scheduled to be elected Prime Minister during the first session of the new parliament on May 9.
The issue of minority rights in Transcarpathia has been a long-standing point of contention between Budapest and Kyiv. Since 2015, the Hungarian government has consistently argued that ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine have been deprived of cultural and educational rights, specifically regarding the use of their mother tongue. This dispute has frequently led Hungary to threaten or implement vetoes on Ukraine's integration into both the EU and NATO, citing the need for legislative reforms to protect ethnic minorities.
