For the sake of the Hungarian Community in Zakarpattia, Péter Magyar should also support Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO. If the Hungarian government insists on demanding 100 percent Hungarian-language education instead of the current 80-90 percent, it would in fact contribute to the gradual
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Hungary is right to seek improvements in the situation of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, particularly in Transcarpathia. On one important point, however, Prime Minister Péter Magyar is either mistaken or insufficiently informed, for now. Moreover, the 13 officially recognized indigenous minorities in Hungary – numbering roughly 600,000 people altogether – possess far fewer institutions and opportunities to conduct their affairs in their native languages within Hungary than the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, which numbers at most around 100,000. The details speak for themselves.
If the Hungarian government insists on demanding 100 percent Hungarian-language education instead of the current 80-90 percent, it would in fact contribute to the gradual disappearance of the minority itself. Any minority that does not adequately speak the majority language cannot communicate effectively or build a meaningful career in its own country, it is like a lighter version of functional illiteracy. The result is predictable: emigration, social marginalization, or poorly paid manual labor.
The much- and well-admired autonomy model of the German-speaking minority in Italy offers a telling example. In South Tyrol (Alto Adige), the system is bilingual – and in some areas even trilingual because of the Ladin population. The overwhelming majority of the province’s inhabitants, especially Germans and Ladins, speak two or three languages thanks to the educational and administrative framework. Consequently, they enjoy not merely equal career opportunities but, in fact, belong to the wealthiest population in Italy, while South Tyrol itself has become the country’s richest province.
Despite deep public appreciation for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime leadership, former Commander-in-Chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi could win a potential head-to-head presidential runoff. How can this dynamic be compared to Winston Churchill’s shocking defeat in the July 1945 British elections, where a nation unified during wartime immediately sought a new policy direction once the conflict concluded.
Had these minorities spoken only German or Ladin, they could not communicate with Italian colleagues or clients. They could hardly become lawyers, physicians, economists, judges, prosecutors, engineers, biologists, physicists, chemists, civil servants, or business professionals. Many would either emigrate to Austria or Germany or be confined to the lowest-paid occupations. Even working as a waiter would become difficult if one could not understand many of the guests.
Is this truly what we wish for the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, dear Péter Magyar? Surely not.
It is entirely legitimate – indeed necessary – to request bilingual (but never monolingual) administration in Hungarian-majority districts of Transcarpathia and to urge the Ukrainian state to invest more resources into Hungarian-language minority education. Yet, creating a linguistic ghetto would be a grave mistake and, within one or two decades, could accelerate the disappearance of what remains of the Hungarian community there.
Let us examine the current reality.
The Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia possesses minority education from kindergarten to the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education. Furthermore, Hungarian-language programs are available at Ukrainian universities as well. Ukraine also hosts Hungarian-language radio stations, television programming, newspapers, political parties, associations, churches, and foundations. In Hungarian-majority settlements, Hungarian flags may be displayed, public signs are bilingual, many streets bear Hungarian names, and Sándor Petőfi has statues not only in Transcarpathia but also in Kyiv. Hungarian national holidays are openly commemorated.
The disputed provisions of Ukraine’s language law were never truly implemented in minority schools and were later rolled back. The principal remaining expectation – one that is entirely standard in places such as Romania and Transylvania – is that minority students who wish to continue into higher education should also pass examinations in Ukrainian. This is plainly in their own interest if they do not wish to emigrate permanently.
By contrast, Hungary’s much larger 13 indigenous minorities possess no universities of their own, only very limited media representation, and no meaningful political structures. Even in the small number of minority schools that do exist, most teaching is conducted in Hungarian, most teachers are Hungarian-speaking, and Hungarian-language graduation examinations are unavoidable in most subjects. In practice, minority-language administration in Hungarian public institutions is nearly nonexistent despite constitutional principles suggesting otherwise.
Hungary should join the international tribunal initiative aimed at prosecuting Vladimir Putin and his circle for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Have you ever attempted to conduct official business in Hungary in Romani, Romanian, Slovak, German, Polish, Serbian, Rusyn, Ukrainian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovene, or Greek? One might answer that most of these minorities have largely assimilated. But why? Precisely because, despite noble principles, the institutional framework supporting them has remained weak and insufficient.
I wish you success in the negotiations and sincerely hope that, in the interests of both nations, an agreement can be reached, dear Péter. Alongside defending legitimate Hungarian minority rights, I also urge you not to fear making gestures toward Ukraine – a country that, for more than 12 years, has been defending not only itself but the security of all Europe, including Hungary, against the aggression of the genocidal, terrorist, and war-criminal Russian regime. Without Ukraine’s heroic defense, Russian forces would likely already be at Hungary’s borders.
Nor should we forget that Ukraine, through immense sacrifice and bloodshed, has acquired military expertise and technologies that the severely neglected Hungarian armed forces can presently only dream of possessing. Several NATO members and Middle Eastern countries are already seeking access to these capabilities. Hungary would also benefit greatly from such cooperation.
I would consider it wise if Prime Minister Magyar were one day to apologize to Ukraine for the Viktor Orbán regime’s actions and incitement against it – actions that were far from merely symbolic and that indirectly contributed to the deaths of many Ukrainians and Hungarian citizens of Ukraine at Russian hands.
This concerns not only the hundreds of billions spent on Russian energy imports, which help finance Russian drones, bombs, and missiles used against civilians, while simultaneously undermining the interests of Ukraine, Hungary, the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, and Hungary’s NATO and EU allies. It is also necessary to understand a deeper reality: Russia is conducting a campaign of destruction against Ukraine, the Ukrainian nation, and all minorities living within Ukraine. As in the past, Russians deport and bomb people today as well; alongside Ukrainians, Hungarians too are being killed by Russian aggression.
I would welcome it if the Hungarian government not only demanded the extradition of figures such as Béla “KGBéla” Kovács (ex-Hungarian member of the European Parliament convicted for being a Russian spy, hiding in Moscow), but also spoke openly about the abduction of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children by the Russian imperial state, the systematic abuse of prisoners of war – including ethnic Hungarian Ukrainian soldiers – and atrocities such as the brutal beheading of Serhii Pataki, a Ukrainian soldier belonging to the Hungarian minority.
I would also appreciate it if the Russian ambassador were summoned not only when Transcarpathia itself suffers Russian air strikes, but whenever Russian forces commit atrocities against civilians anywhere in Ukraine – just as the prime minister, then a member of the European Parliament, rightly protested in person in Kyiv two years ago after the Russian shelling of a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
Hungary should join the international tribunal initiative aimed at prosecuting Vladimir Putin and his circle for war crimes and crimes against humanity – an initiative already supported by dozens of European countries.
These horrific crimes cannot remain unpunished. If they do – especially if Ukraine is abandoned – then the collapse of the EU and NATO may eventually follow, with devastating consequences for European and Hungarian security alike.
Finally, let us remember this: if the Hungarian government genuinely wishes to improve the long-term prospects, prosperity, and survival of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, then supporting Ukraine’s accession to the European Union – and ultimately NATO – is not optional but essential. This is particularly true given that nearly 90 percent of the Hungarian community there reportedly supports such integration themselves.
I do not believe you wish otherwise.
I wish you fruitful work. Glory to Hungary and to Ukraine.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
