On Tuesday, during the meeting of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee in the European Parliament, MEPs had an exchange of views with Olga Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine – Minister of Justice of Ukraine. “Despite a promising start in December last year, the full legal restoration of minority rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians has still not been achieved. I wish to express my concerns regarding the draft law, No. 12086, on amendments to the Ukrainian Education Law. The draft law aims to establish a Ukrainian-language environment in educational institutions. The adoption of this draft legislation would limit the rights of national minorities to use their own languages, in addition to violating fundamental human rights”, highlighted Viktória Ferenc, MEP of Transcarpathian origin.

Viktória Ferenc added: “The proposed changes, if adopted, would restrict the use of minority languages to classroom activities only. Outside the classroom, only the state language would be permitted. Furthermore, the draft law would prohibit the use of minority languages, including Hungarian, in private interactions. It also mandates the use of the state language (Ukrainian) during breaks, in teachers’ rooms, on school premises, and even after school hours.”

“It is time for the full legal restoration of the minority rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarians. It is my sincere hope that the Ukrainian government and minorities can work together to achieve this goal in a constructive manner, with the involvement of real minority representatives” – concluded her speech, the Fidesz-KDNP MEP. 

“We are closely following every initiative in the Ukrainian Parliament which, to this or that extent, covers the issues which are subject to the accession process. We have not been putting any restrictions like that into any legal proposal we were putting to the government because we also think it is a restriction which very closely lines up with freedoms, not only related to the application of the language. So we are not supporting any initiatives like that. And we have pretty much clarity in legislation requiring the respect for freedom of expression and freedom of using any language” highlighted Olga Stefanishyna in her relpy.   

And we have also have committed that before opening the first cluster, we will present the roadmaps, as well the action plan on the national minorities. And within these 11 points, we have already agreed on a large number of issues, including the educational framework, which has been agreed. So it will be addressed in the action plan that the government will present, the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed.