BRUSSELS, Oct. 16 - Hungary will “block and boycott” all attempts to draw Ukraine more deeply into the European Union unless Kiev changes a new education law, Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto said Monday.

Szijjarto said after a meeting with EU counterparts that he “made it very clear that until this law changes, we will block and boycott all initiatives made by Ukraine, and all initiatives which are important for Ukraine,” AP reported.

Szijjarto said Budapest will also block any conclusions at an upcoming EU-Eastern Partnership summit next month.

The exceptionally harsh stance by Hungary to the law that requires more classes in Ukrainian language in high schools mirrors Russia’s position and contrasts sharply with that of Romania and Poland.

Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said Friday Ukraine had assured him that "no Romanian school will be closed ... and no teachers in a Romanian school will be fired."

Melescanu said students would be educated in their native tongue and also learn Ukrainian language, literature, history and geography.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Friday Ukraine wasn't discriminating against ethnic minorities but giving them more language skills so they are competitive on the labor market.

The education law passed last month specifies that Ukrainian will be the main language used in high schools. The law was approved to address emerging problem that some ethnic communities, such as Hungarian ethnic group, do not even understand Ukrainian after graduating high schools.

Ukraine has some 150,000 ethnic Hungarians and many Hungarian schools.

The law, which was passed last month, specifies that Ukrainian will be the main language used in schools, rolling back an option for lessons to be taught in other languages.

Ukraine approved the law amid the government’s concerns that some state-funded schools, for example Hungarian ethnic schools in TransCarpathia region, currently do not offer classes in Ukrainian language at all.

Kyiv has sought greater integration with the EU under the pro-Western government that took power following pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster. That was followed by Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In June, Ukraine secured visa-free travel for its citizens to most EU countries in what President Petro Poroshenko called a "final exit of our country from the Russian Empire."

On September 1, an Association Agreement strengthening ties between Ukraine and the EU entered into force. (ap/nr/ez)