Ukraine submitted a law on national minorities for consideration, and Hungary approved it: more has been achieved than during the Orbán government’s 10 years in office

Hungary welcomed the submission to the Verkhovna Rada of a draft law on the educational rights of national minorities and expects it to be adopted as early as October. Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban said this on October 2 on social media, UNN writes.

Details

"Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod Chentsov personally informed me that a draft law on the educational rights of national minorities would be submitted to the Ukrainian parliament. We welcome this step, which was preceded by bilateral Hungarian-Ukrainian professional consultations and consultations with representatives of the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia over the past few weeks.

She noted that the adoption of the draft law "could strengthen legal guarantees for education in the Hungarian native language and the network of educational institutions."

"The Ukrainian parliament is expected to make a decision on the draft law in October," Orban said.

According to her, Hungary "remains interested in dialogue and tangible results in the everyday life of the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia."

"We are pleased that in a few months we have achieved greater and more tangible results in strengthening the rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia than the Orban government achieved in 10 years," the Hungarian foreign minister emphasized.

The draft law on national minorities is already in parliament — what it says

The draft law on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine regarding ensuring the educational rights of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine and persons belonging to national minorities (communities) of Ukraine was registered in parliament under No. 16119 on October 1, 2026.

As noted in the explanatory memorandum, the draft law provides for clarifying the provisions of legislation on the use of the languages of national minorities (communities) of Ukraine that are official languages of the European Union, and the languages of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine in the educational process alongside the state language. In particular, it is proposed to allow the relevant languages to be used not only directly in the educational process, but also in other forms of communication between students and other participants in the educational process on the premises and territory of the educational institution.

In order to create appropriate conditions for the functioning of educational institutions where instruction is provided in the languages of national minorities (communities) of Ukraine and the indigenous peoples of Ukraine, the draft law provides for the possibility of granting general secondary education institutions the corresponding status. Such status makes it possible to take into account the linguistic, cultural and educational needs of students and their families.

Certain provisions of the draft law are aimed at ensuring the possibility of taking into account the cultural and linguistic identity of the relevant communities in educational programs, in particular by providing for the study of national history, the preservation of material and spiritual culture, national traditions, symbols and customs.

The draft law also provides for improving guarantees of access to education in the event of the reorganization or liquidation of a general secondary education institution with the status of a general secondary education institution of a national minority (community) of Ukraine or of a general secondary education institution of an indigenous people of Ukraine. In particular, upon an application by a student's parents, the possibility of continuing to receive education at the relevant level in another educational institution with the corresponding status is to be guaranteed, where instruction is provided in the language of the relevant national minority (community) of Ukraine or indigenous people of Ukraine.