Peter Magyar believes that 100,000 Hungarians in Transcarpathia are denied basic human rights
Hungary’s new Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, has made some controversial statements regarding the situation of the Hungarian national minority in Ukraine and the European Union’s future economic relations with the Russian Federation.
The head of the Hungarian government outlined his position in detail in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
Commenting on the issue of Ukraine’s sovereignty, the Hungarian leader acknowledged that every state has the unquestionable right and direct obligation to defend its own independence and territorial integrity against external aggression. At the same time, he emphasized that Budapest’s position remains unique due to the factor of the Transcarpathian community.
“There is a Hungarian minority living in Ukraine that lacks basic rights. In Central Europe in 2026! We are talking about the right to language, culture, and administrative autonomy. In Transcarpathia, over 100,000 Hungarians live without basic human rights,” said the Hungarian prime minister.
The Hungarian side declared its readiness to begin a fundamentally new phase in bilateral relations, but set a clear condition regarding the full guarantee of these rights for their Transcarpathian compatriots, whose lives in a country that has long been at war are extremely difficult. Technical consultations have already begun between Kyiv and Budapest based on a previously presented 11-point Hungarian document. Péter Magyar emphasized that a positive resolution of these issues is a mandatory prerequisite for Hungary’s agreement to launch official negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. If a compromise is reached, the prime minister expressed his readiness to hold a personal meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in one of the cities of Zakarpattia to sign the final agreements.
Separately, the Hungarian prime minister addressed global European security and energy. Despite the official recognition that Russia poses an indisputable long-term threat to the European continent, Magyar expressed his conviction that once the war between Ukraine and Russia ends, EU countries will inevitably return to the practice of mass purchases of Russian energy resources. In his view, the resumption of natural gas imports from Russia will be driven solely by pragmatic factors, among which the supplier’s geographical proximity, the lower cost of fuel compared to alternatives, and the overall competitiveness of the European economy on the global market remain key.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Hungary, Andriy Sibiga and Anita Orbán, held their first in-person meeting on May 22. During the talks in Helsingborg, the parties agreed to hold a second round of expert-level consultations next week to further discuss bilateral issues.
Earlier, the Hungarian government commented on the massive attack by Russian drones on Zakarpattia, during which the region’s critical infrastructure was struck. Budapest described the situation in the border region as extremely alarming and announced that it was preparing urgent countermeasures.
