Kyiv, Budapest to find solution to unlock NATO-UA Commission ministerial-level meeting

Head of Ukraine’s Mission to NATO, Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko, is convinced that together with Hungarian partners a solution will be found to unlock the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) at the ministerial level.

That is according to the envoy’s comment he gave to UNIAN in Brussels today, speaking about the fact that the NUC meeting is once again not on the schedule of the upcoming meeting of NATO defense ministers that will be held in the city on February 14-15.

Ambassador Prystaiko underlined the fact that the latest NUC meeting at the level of defense ministers was held in 2016.

"We hoped that this meeting would be held in February, especially since the latest meeting in this format was back in 2016. Ukraine is a country at war, so it is unacceptable that the Minister of Defense does not meet with his colleagues to discuss the developments and inform about the course of reforms. Unfortunately, this meeting will not take place for the reasons we are well aware of - because of the position of the Hungarian side, which abuses NATO’s principle of consensus and blocks the meeting," said Prystaiko.

Read alsoHungary blocks NATO-Ukraine Defense CommissionHe also drew attention to the fact that the latest NUC meeting in December with the participation of the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, was held at the ambassadorial level.

Answering a question on what could be the way out to ensure that the NUC meeting at the level of foreign ministers is held in March, the Ukrainian diplomat noted that one of such solutions could be to introduce into the Annual National Program for Cooperation with NATO recommendations of the Venice Commission on Ukraine’s education law.

Prystaiko said that at a meeting of the Government Committee held on February 2 a decision was made to introduce such recommendations in the Program.

"We are introducing the Venice Commission's recommendations in the Annual National Program in full, adding a separate provision to remind Hungary that the Ukrainian side is open to negotiations with communities and experts," the diplomat said.