Once an example of good friendship and partnership, Ukraine and Hungary’s current relations continue to go through a crisis marked by mutual mistrust and diplomatic hostilities. The controversial law on education has obviously triggered many debates on political and professional levels. One could say that it’s hardly disputable that citizens living in Ukraine should know the official language of the country and that the law can only be seen as an advantage for the members of the national minorities as well. Turning the law into practice, however, is turning out to be a lot harder than what may have been expected in Kyiv.
According to Hungary, it will be a true challenge to find teachers who can speak fluent Ukrainian and teach subjects in the language in the Hungarian schools in the Zakarpattya region. This, according to them, will lead to their children not knowing Ukraine properly and not being able to understand the professional subjects either. In the long run, this will place the children of Hungarians at a big disadvantage. This was the main reason the Hungarian government insisted on postponing the introduction of the law until 2023.
The Venice Commission, in the meantime, also got involved in the issue and laid down some principles, stating that knowledge of the official language of a State is a factor of social cohesion and integration and it is legitimate for States to promote the learning of their official language and to ask that the State language be the language of education for all. At the same time, regarding the national minorities, the Assembly also stated that “Language is an essential component of individual and collective identity. For many persons belonging to national minorities, language is one of the main factors of their minority identity and identification.”
This comes to show that support for Ukraine in its decision isn’t 100% unanimous and the straightforwardness of the language law may have been lacking in nuance. It’s therefore necessary for the current administration to remain introspective with regard to its own flaws. Kyiv and Budapest are both losing as long as tensions between Ukraine and Hungary remain.
To overcome the logic of confrontation, complex, and non-standard decisions are required. One of the possible ways to accomplish this would be the creation of a wider regional context. If we accept that Ukraine and Hungary are part of a single region, establishing cooperation and maintaining a common consensus could significantly expand the capabilities of both countries. This would enable control over the level of escalation of the conflict. The context of the regional level can open up new horizons for both states, getting them out of their circular reasoning of only focusing on today’s issues. A fully-fledged strategic partnership will still be far away, but the current crisis, at the very least, can be overcome.
