MPs from opposition factions in the Ukrainian parliament will insist on the adoption of a new law on languages, Batkivschyna faction deputy Volodymyr Yavorivsky has said.
“This law was written and prepared by other deputies. This is the
result of the work of the previous parliament and MPs. Serhiy Holovaty
made enormous contribution [to drafting the document]. We just worked
out the version that was prepared for submission to parliament,” he said
at a press conference on Wednesday.
He said that the co-authors of a bill on language policy were
opposition deputies Yavorivsky, Maria Matios (UDAR faction), Iryna
Farion (Svoboda faction) and Volodymyr Bondarenko (Batkivschyna
faction).
He said that members of the three opposition factions – Svoboda, UDAR
and Batkivschyna – had joined the preparation of a respective document,
which was drafted in the previous parliament.
Yavorivsky said that the final text of the bill will be completed in
the near future, but “it’s unnecessary to hurry” with its consideration.
He said that opposition members would vote for this bill.
“We are ready to accept some amendments [that could be introduced by
deputies from other factions], but the Ukrainian language should be the
only official language in Ukraine,” Yavorivsky said.
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, passed the bill on the
principles of the state language policy initiated by the Regions Party
on July 3, 2012.
On August 8, 2012 Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed the
bill into law and instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to form a working
group for the development of proposals to improve language legislation
in Ukraine.
The law took effect on August 10. According to it, a language may be
provided with the status of a regional language if the percentage of
people considering it their native language exceeds 10% of the total
population of the region.
