OREANDA-NEWS. “Hungary is asking for the deployment of permanent OSCE observers to Transcarpathia”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday in Vienna.

In his speech at the plenary session of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Minister highlighted: Hungary highly appreciates the work of the organisation’s observers in Ukraine.

“The Organization’s border observation mission on the Russian side of the Russian-Ukrainian border is headed by a Hungarian diplomat”, he pointed out. “Hungary has in the past been a committed supporter of Ukraine in several areas, but was extremely disappointed by the adoption of the new Education Act in September, which significantly reduces the rights of national minorities to study in their native language”, he recalled.

“The new legislation is in full violation of Ukraine’s bilateral and international commitments, and accordingly it must reinstate the rights of national minorities”, he declared. “Hungary is concerned about the situation in Transcarpathia; there are 150 thousand Hungarians living in the region. For this reason, Hungary is calling for the deployment of permanent OSCE observers to the region, which should not be an issue in view of the fact that the Mission’s mandate is valid with respect to the country’s whole territory”, he said. “Transcarpathia is a multinational area and the new Education Act is not facilitating peaceful cohabitation within the region”, he added.