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With the loosening of central control, the fifteen "Socialist Soviet Republics" started to (re)assert themselves. After the failed coup in August 1991, following the Baltic states, Ukraine declared itself independent. Even before that Hungary started to build close relations with its largest neighbor, and on December 6, 1991, signed a treaty with Kyiv "on good-neighborhood and cooperation." An integral part of the treaty was a Protocol on the protection of national minorities. That provided extensive political and educational rights to the then about 200,000 strong Hungarian community of the Trans(sub)Carpathian district. In the next decade, Hungary had most cordial relations with Ukraine. Due to the growth of Ukrainian national feeling, much strengthened by Russia's seizure of Crimea and territories in the eastern border area, in 2017 Ukraine passed a new Law on Education, restricting teaching in the language of the national minorities. Hungary has been very critical of the change, and retaliated by blocking Ukraine's western integration. At the end of 2023 Ukraine modified the law so that instruction could continue in the language of the minorities. A sign of goodwill.
About the author
Géza Jeszenszky is a Hungarian historian and politician. Following the nation's political transformation, was Hungary's foreign minister (1990-94). His account of Hungary's relations with its neighbors during the years of the regime change will be published by Helena History Press (Reno, NV).
