Members of the Verkhovna Rada have registered a bill on education for national minorities aimed at unblocking the opening of two negotiation clusters regarding Ukraine's accession to the European Union by lifting Hungary's veto.
"We have found a solution that simultaneously protects the Ukrainian language, grants clear rights to national minorities and indigenous peoples, and removes one of the obstacles to Ukraine's European integration, specifically, it will help us unblock the opening of two negotiation clusters by lifting Hungary's veto," wrote Serhiy Babak (Servant of the People faction), head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation, on his Telegram channel.
Specifically, the measure in question is Bill No. 16119, "On amendments to certain laws of Ukraine regarding ensuring the right to education for indigenous peoples of Ukraine and persons belonging to national minorities (communities) of Ukraine."
Babak emphasized that the Ukrainian language remains the language of the educational process, and the bill neither diminishes its status nor reintroduces the Russian language into the education system.
"It is about something else. We need to regulate the right to education for Ukraine's indigenous peoples and national minorities whose languages are official languages of the European Union, while simultaneously fulfilling a crucial part of our European integration commitments," he added.
According to him, the bill is intended to create the necessary conditions for further unblocking the negotiation process, particularly regarding the next two clusters.
"At the outset, our negotiating position was far from simple. The groundwork and agreements established by those previously responsible for this process had effectively led the discussion into a dead end. Furthermore, the version of the bill they had agreed to would not have garnered sufficient support even within the relevant committee, let alone on the floor of the Verkhovna Rada. Yet, politics is the art of reaching agreements while upholding one's state's position," the MP wrote.
The committee chair noted that the bill more clearly defines how the languages of Ukraine's indigenous peoples and national minorities, specifically those that are official EU languages, may be used alongside the state language.
"For instance, if an educational institution has a class where children are taught in Hungarian, they will be able to use the language of an EU country (alongside Ukrainian) not only during instruction but also when communicating with teachers and other participants in the educational process. Ukrainian remains the state language of instruction, and these changes apply exclusively to the languages of European Union countries," he wrote.
The bill also introduces the concept of a general secondary education institution with the status of a national minority (or community) institution; to qualify for this status, an institution must have more than 50% of its students (specifically, 50% plus one) studying in the language of that national minority (or community).
"According to Ministry of Education and Science estimates, this potentially affects 149 educational institutions—about 1.2% of all general secondary education institutions in Ukraine. In other words, we are talking about a very specific and rather limited group of institutions, and certainly not a change to the overall language model of education in Ukraine," Babak emphasized.
Furthermore, according to the draft document, parents will be able to initiate an expansion of the list of subjects taught in Ukrainian. In other words, if a child is studying in a class or group where the language of instruction is that of an indigenous people or a national minority, provided that language is an official EU language, the number of subjects taught in Ukrainian may be increased.
Among other things, the requirement regarding language certification is changing for the heads of certain private educational institutions.
"This provision applies to a very narrow group of heads of private educational institutions (specifically, those serving as heads at the time the law enters into force) that have classes or groups where the educational process is conducted in the language of an indigenous people or a national minority that is an official EU language. They will not be required to provide a state certificate confirming their Ukrainian language proficiency for as long as they remain in their position," the message reads.
According to the Ministry of Education, this affects the heads of only 29 institutions across Ukraine.
"That is why I would very much dislike seeing the discussion around this bill reduced to a simplistic 'Ukrainian language versus minority languages' confrontation. We have actually found a solution that ensures the rights of national minorities without compromising the position of the Ukrainian language. We are fulfilling our obligations to the citizens of Ukraine and continuing our progress toward European Union membership," Babak stated.
The bill's authors include Ruslan Stefanchuk, Oleksandr Kornienko, Olena Kondratiuk, Serhiy Babak, Mykyta Poturayev, Oleksandr Danutsa, Yevhenia Kravchuk, Serhiy Kalchenko, Andriy Klochko, Oleksandr Horobets, Dmytro Liubota, Mykola Davydiuk, Vadym Halaichuk, and Maria Mezentseva-Fedorenko.
As reported, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha expressed hope for the early convening of a special session of the Verkhovna Rada to consider a package of documents on European integration and a bill on national minorities.
