Stoltenberg to Hold Ukraine-NATO Commission Meeting

Jens Stoltenberg is planning to convene a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission in April. Hungary objects, arguing that Kyiv violates the rights of the Hungarian minority in the west of Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wants to convene a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the ministerial level for the first time since 2017. He announced this on Tuesday, March 21, in Brussels. Hungary objects to the meeting: according to Budapest, Kyiv violates the rights of the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg stressed that he respects the issues raised by Hungary regarding the protection of minority rights in Ukraine and “always tries to reach a consensus.” However, if the countries fail to reach unity, the NATO secretary general has the prerogative to convene such meetings, and he plans to invoke it, Stoltenberg said, noting that the Ukraine-NATO commission is a platform to show support for Ukraine. The first meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission may take place in April on the margins of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels. Furthermore, Jens Stoltenberg did not rule out that the leaders of NATO allies would meet with Volodymyr Zelensky during the NATO summit in Vilnius in July. Hungary Opposes Ukraine’s Law on Education The Ukraine-NATO commission meeting was last held in 2017. After that, Hungary announced that it would block subsequent summit meetings. The reason was the law on education in Ukraine, which restricts school lessons in minority languages. According to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó, Budapest continues to oppose the convening of the commission.