10,000 Transcarpathian Hungarians are citizens of Hungary

The city of Beregovo in Transcarpathia in Ukraine is popularly known as Hungarian Ukraine. Hungarians comprise almost half of the population. The city residents speak exclusively Hungarian. But advertising, names of streets, public institutions, shops and pharmacies are bilingual.

Hungarian government began to actively help the Hungarian diaspora in Eastern Europe – Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia and Serbia – in the early 2000s. First, Hungarians received identification cards of ethnic Hungarians, which gave them a lot of benefits while staying in Hungary.

Lawyers point out that despite the fact that the Constitution of Ukraine provides for only one nationality, there are no real mechanisms to enforce this constitutional rule nor any significant sanctions for violation thereof.

Meanwhile, Transcarpathian Hungarians have long dreamed of their own territorial cultural autonomy. Hungarians recall that December 1, 1991 in Beregovo district the referendum was held in which the idea of ​​territorial autonomy was supported by 84% of the population.

But now the language issue is one of the most critical in Beregovo. In everyday life the majority speaks Hungarian. 

Hence, the need to talk about the issue of dual citizenship is very topical. Therefore, Kyiv and Budapest will be solving this problem in 2 weeks.

According to the Hungarian consulate, March 28, there will be the meeting of Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Hungary.