Peter Magyar, who will soon be inaugurated Prime Minister of Hungary thanks to his recent electoral victory against Viktor Orban, said Tuesday that he had proposed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet him in June. The objective: a reconciliation of the two neighboring countries, divided by a decade of tensions.

Published on: 04/28/2026 - 9:24 p.m.

The future Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced on Tuesday April 28 that he had proposed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet him at the beginning of June, in order to "open a new chapter in bilateral relations" and resolve a dispute relating to the rights of the Hungarian minority living in western Ukraine.

Relations between the two neighboring countries had reached their lowest point shortly before Hungary's April 12 election, which saw the victory of pro-EU conservative Péter Magyar over nationalist Viktor Orban, who had been in power for 16 years.

For months, Viktor Orban's Hungary blocked the payment of a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine, or the adoption of new sanctions against Russia. Péter Magyar lifted these vetoes.

“I suggested to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that we meet him at the beginning of June, in a symbolic place, the town of Berehove (in Ukraine, editor's note), where the majority of the population is Hungarian,” Peter Magyar wrote on Facebook.

A symbolic region

“This meeting will aim to improve the situation of Hungarians in Transcarpathia,” he added.

This region of western Ukraine, located on the borders of Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, which was part of the Kingdom of Hungary before the end of World War I, is home to a Hungarian minority.

Community relations there became strained after the adoption in 2017 of a law making Ukrainian the main language of secondary education.

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“The time has come for Ukraine to lift the legal restrictions that have been in place for more than a decade, for the Hungarians of Transcarpathia to regain their full cultural, linguistic, administrative and higher education rights and once again become equal and respected citizens of Ukraine,” said Peter Magyar.

“If we can resolve these issues, we can open a new chapter in bilateral relations between Ukraine and Hungary,” he hoped.

With AFP

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