Kuleba to meet with Szijjarto in Brussels today

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine will meet in Brussels on Monday with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Kuleba said this while speaking with the mass media in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy noted that President Volodymyr Zelensky had a short encounter with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary while in Argentina, but he was not present at this meeting, so he cannot share its atmosphere.

"Today I will meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. This will be our first face-to-face meeting since the full-scale invasion. And I think this fact speaks for itself: we continue to talk with Hungary. As I have already mentioned, Ukraine has amended its legislation on education and the use of national minority languages as Hungary wanted. And this fact must be respected," said the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said the decision of the European Commission contained a specific wording – that Ukraine should bring the legislation into line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

"And all the key recommendations of the Venice Commission have been implemented... I think the rules of the game should be fair. If we are told to do something and it’s done, it should be recognized as a result," the minister noted.

As reported, on December 8, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a general amendment to certain laws of Ukraine to take into account the expert assessment of the Council of Europe and its bodies regarding the rights of national minorities (communities) in certain areas.

On November 8, the European Commission recommended that the European Council open negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU. It also recommended, under certain conditions, to open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and grant the status of a candidate country to Georgia.

On December 14, the European Council is to consider the issue of launching negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

During its meeting on December 9, the Verkhovna Rada approved an appeal to the EU member states and institutions with a request to support the opening of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.