Ukrainian President will not cancel trip to NATO summit despite threats from Hungary
Ukraine's ambassador to NATO, Vadym Prystaiko, confirmed that the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission is in jeopardy because of Hungary's actions. However, according to the diplomat, President Petro Poroshenko will still take part in the July NATO summit, where he has been invited.
Prystaiko broke the news to Ukrainski Novyny, commenting on the Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó’s statement on Hungary’s continued efforts to block Ukraine's European integration aspirations. Recently, Hungary announced its intention to block Ukraine's participation in the meeting of the defense ministers of the European Union scheduled for April and the NATO-Ukraine Commission with Poroshenko's participation at the summit of the alliance in July.
"I think that now, before the elections, they are demonstrating that they are ‘going all the way.’ I believe that the NATO-Ukraine commission, which is to be held at the level of foreign ministers, is really threatened. Regarding the summit, the President will still visit Brussels since he has been invited to other meetings there besides the NATO-Ukraine meeting," Prystaiko said.
"We were invited to the summit but we have not formally received an invitation yet,” he added. Prystaiko stated emphatically that Szijjártó threatened to block their efforts even though the official decision would have to be made no sooner than April or even later thence.
The ambassador believes that the Hungarian leadership’s latest statements are related to the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
"The statement that the summit will be blocked is already really that red line that Minister Klimkin recently spoke of when he inferred that Hungary is coming close to the red line in its threats and its reactions... I have a feeling that a particular politician, Minister Szijjártó, is now less worried about his nation and more worried about his career, given the upcoming elections," he said. Parliamentary elections in Hungary will be held on April 8.
Hungary holds steady to their claim that the only reason for the deterioration of bilateral relations with Ukraine is the conflict over the language norms of Ukraine’s law "On Education."