Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy's assessment. For a number of months frustration has been building up over Hungary's position in respect of Ukraine. Hungary had originally identified some issues with Ukraine relating to the listing of one of its main banks. That was solved, or at least we thought it was resolved, when the agency involved delisted the bank and then there was a demand over its subsidiaries. An issue was raised over the treatment of minority Hungarian children in schools in Ukraine. There have also been talks on that but the goalposts seem to keep changing in respect of the demands from Ukraine. The Deputy will recall that at the last council meeting the Prime Minister of Hungary raised the ante suggesting he needed to look at the broader EU strategy towards Ukraine which had not been raised - certainly not at the FAC - for the previous two months.

I did detect from the Hungarian foreign minister on Monday a sense that there would be a genuine engagement with Ukraine next week in respect of this issue. The Deputy is correct. Europe has now modified its proposals - potentially it would be done on an annual basis, but even that has potential problems down the line.

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