Zelensky, Hungary's Magyar hold first 'one-on-one' talks at EU summit
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President Volodymyr Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar met for their first bilateral talks in Brussels on Oct. 16, as their countries seek to open a "new chapter" in relations.
Both leaders are in Brussels for a two-day EU summit, where Kyiv seeks to drum up European support amid deteriorating ties with the U.S.
The meeting comes the same week Zelensky signed a law on the educational rights of Ukraine's national minorities, a step Hungary had demanded before allowing Kyiv's EU accession talks to proceed.
"We see the Ukrainian parliament's adoption of the minority education law and the immediate start of its implementation as a first step towards rebuilding mutual trust," Magyar said on X after the meeting.
The Hungarian prime minister also said that both countries would continue talks at the ministerial level, focusing on the situation of national minorities.
Magyar underscored that both countries agreed on the need "to build a new foundation for our political and economic relations" and expressed solidarity with Ukraine in the face of "Russia's brutal aggression."
After Ukraine passed the minorities bill, Hungary lifted its veto on the opening of two more negotiation clusters for Ukraine, allowing their official launch on Oct. 13.
The law gives Ukraine's Hungarian-speaking minority and other EU-language minorities more room to use their native language in education.
Ukrainian officials have said it would formalize existing education rights for national minorities rather than bring major practical changes.
Roughly 80,000 ethnic Hungarians live in Ukraine's westernmost Zakarpattia Oblast.
"I hope that we will get to the point where a new chapter opens (in Hungarian-Ukrainian relations)," Magyar said about his meeting with Zelensky a day prior, saying the two could then meet again in Berehove, a Zakarpattia Oblast town considered the heart of the Hungarian-speaking community in Ukraine.
Magyar has floated a meeting in Berehove since the spring, but no firm date has been set so far. The two held brief conversations in June in Brussels, and then again in July at the NATO summit in Ankara.
