Hungary's Magyar proposes meeting with Zelenskiy on minority rights

BUDAPEST, April 28 - Hungarian election winner Peter Magyar has proposed a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in western Ukraine to discuss minority rights of ethnic Hungarians in the region, Magyar said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Centre-right leader Magyar ousted nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years in power at an April 12 election, winning a constitutional majority that will allow him to roll back Orban's contested rule-of-law reforms.

While Magyar does not share Orban's overt hostility towards Ukraine, he also opposes fast-track European Union accession for Kyiv and says its treatment of ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine will be key to rebuilding ties.

"The goal of the meeting is to help the situation of Hungarians in Transcarpathia so that they can stay in their homeland," Magyar said after talks with Zoltan Babjak, the mayor of Berehove, a Ukrainian town near the border with Hungary where ethnic Hungarians constitute a majority.

Under Orban, Budapest has repeatedly clashed with Kyiv over what it says are curbs on the rights of roughly 150,000 ethnic Hungarians to use their native tongue.

Magyar said it was time for Kyiv to restore all cultural, linguistic, administrative and higher-education rights to ethnic Hungarians, which he said could also ensure that many who have fled since Russia's 2022 invasion return when the war ends.

"If we can resolve these issues, that would certainly open a new chapter in Ukrainian-Hungarian bilateral relations," said Magyar, who plans to take the oath of office as prime minister at the inaugural session of parliament on May 9.

"The concessions announced by the Ukrainian government in education in 2025 are a step forward, but not sufficient," he said, encouraging Ukraine's leaders to take what he called a large step towards European values and genuine freedom.

Ukrainian officials have reacted with cautious optimism to the Hungarian election result. Zelenskiy has congratulated Magyar on his victory, saying Kyiv was ready for "meetings and joint constructive work". REUTERS