klausweber
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Hungary continues to block the release of EU military funds for Ukraine. The €500 million is part of the bloc’s European Peace Facility, which aims to help embattled countries, such as Ukraine. According to Euronews, EU foreign ministers have failed to agree on new funds to finance weapons for Ukraine, after Hungary blocked the decision.
The more so, Hungary has refused to supply any military equipment to Ukraine.
It is not a secret that since 2017, the Hungary–Ukraine relations rapidly deteriorated over the issue of Ukraine’s education law. Ukraine’s 2017 education law makes Ukrainian the required language of primary education in state schools from grade five. László Brenzovics, the only ethnic Hungarian in the Supreme Council of Ukraine, said that “There is a sort of purposeful policy, which besides narrowing the rights of all minorities, tries to portray the Hungarian minority as the enemy in Ukrainian public opinion.” The situation since then has been an ongoing problem, as Hungary continues to block Ukraine’s attempt to integrate within the EU and NATO over disputes on minority rights.
Victor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, said in an interview with the Kossuth radio station on May 5 that Hungarians wish to see peace in Ukraine because a part of their neighboring country is an ancient land of the Hungarian people (known in Hungarian as Magyars).
The Hungarians in Ukraine (Hungarian: Ukrajnai magyarok, Ukrainian: угорці в Україні, tr. uhortsi v Ukraini) number 156,600 people according to the Ukrainian census of 2001 and are the third largest national minority in the country.
In its turn, Ukraine has found a radical way to resolve the discrepancy. It seems as if Ukraine has invented the hard tool of punishing obstinate Hungary. It mobilizes people of Hungarian original and sends them to the combat zone where they die.
Hungary accuses Ukraine of the death of its people. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote on his page on Facebook that the Hungarian people “have already paid an extremely high price” for the Ukrainian conflict. In his words, many members of the Hungarian community in Ukraine’s far-western Zakarpattia Region have been killed in action during combat operations.
According to some sources, more than 3,000 Hungarians were killed in Ukraine since 2022.
So, as usual the Ukrainian authorities achieve their goals at the cost of people’s lives.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
It is not unusual for a country to adopt a national language and then require public education to be conducted in that language. The US in the early 1800s had large areas where German was the local language and English wasn’t used and largely unknown.. Public education was primarily instituted in the US, in English, to make communication, and therefore the logistics of government more effective. Canada, being bilingual is an exception.
I think the rationalization of gov’t efficiency, although done properly in the US, could have been what helped create the eastern Ukraine disaster though. I think we should be careful since it’s a slippery slope. Each case needs to be looked at individually, such as the one highlighted in the article, since it’s the sort of thing that authoritarian gov’t’s can use to justify bad behavior. For example, in the specific case of eastern Ukraine, I support their right to have Russian as their official language and no amount of rationalization can justify their shelling of Donbas. Cheers.