Hungary has changed the name of the post of government envoy for Transcarpathia, which provoked resistance from Ukraine, to “the authorized minister responsible for the development of cooperation between the Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg county and the Zakarpattia region, as well as for coordinating the program of children’s educational institutions of the Carpathian region.”
According to a report posted on the website of the Ukrayinska Pravda e-zine on October 30, a respective decision was published in the official journal of the Hungarian Justice Ministry on October 29. The e-zine published a scanned copy of the text of the decision.
This post is still occupied by Istvan Grezsa.
“So now the title of the post is not about the development of one region, but about cooperation between two neighboring border regions. Hungary actually returned the name of the post of Grezsa, which existed until spring of the current year, adding to the envoy’s functions the work with children’s educational institutions of Transcarpathia,” the report says.
As reported, on August 31, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that he had a talk with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, following which the Hungarian side agreed to change the name of the post of its “envoy for Transcarpathia.”
In early August, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar said that Kyiv might urge its international partners to intervene following the Hungarian government’s decision to institute the office of minister plenipotentiary for the development of the Transcarpathian region and might impose an entry ban on Istvan Grezsa, who occupies this post, if Budapest does not change the title and does not offer explanations.
