According to Hungarian organizations, the law does not provide an adequate institutional basis and legal mechanisms for the enforcement and protection of the rights of national minorities.Continue reading
A new regulation is making everyday life more difficult for Hungarians in Transcarpathia. Hungarians with dual Ukrainian-Hungarian citizenship are no longer allowed to cross the Ukrainian border with a Hungarian passport, Magyar Nemzet reports.
In recent months, the issue of dual Ukrainian-Hungarian citizenship has been raised in Ukraine, which, although not officially criminalized, is not legally recognized either by the country’s constitution. Therefore, Hungarian travel documents are not recognized, claims the newspaper report.
As a result of the new regulation in effect since September,
dual citizens of adult age without a Ukrainian passport are not allowed to pass from Hungary to Ukraine or from Ukraine to Hungary.
According to accounts from Hungarians in Transcarpathia, border guards are still tolerant on the way to Ukraine and will let them through with a Hungarian passport, but on the way back they will only accept Ukrainian documents.
Exceptions to this rule are those who have renounced their Ukrainian citizenship and sometimes those who have not used their Ukrainian passports for many years. The hostile measure is being enforced at the same time as Hungary is welcoming over ten thousand Ukrainian war refugees per day.
There is no other solution but to reapply for a Ukrainian passport or to renew an expired document, which can be done in Transcarpathia, at the Ukrainian embassy in Budapest, or the Ukrainian consulate in Nyíregyháza, northeastern Hungary. According to Magyar Nemzet, the situation is further complicated by the fact that there is no Hungarian-speaking administrator at the Ukrainian mission in Budapest to assist with the application process, and the situation is similar at the consulate in Nyíregyháza.
Featured photo via police.hu