Regional state counci: Language law has no effect in Ivano-Frankivsk region

 Ivano-Frankivsk regional council at an early session on Tuesday voted down a protest by the acting prosecutor in Ivano-Frankivsk region, Volodymyr Havriushenko, under paragraph 1 of the regional council's decision of August 23, 2012 "On the observance of the demands of the Constitution of Ukraine concerning functioning of the Ukrainian state language in Ivano-Frankivsk region."

In his protest, the prosecutor demanded the cancellation of paragraph 1 of the regional council's decision, which says that Ukrainian law "On the principles of state language policy" will not come into effect on the territory of Ivano-Frankivsk region.

The prosecutor said that in taking this decision, Ivano-Frankivsk regional council exceeded its powers as foreseen under Article 43 of the Ukrainian law "On local government in Ukraine", and also violated the demands of Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine that obliges local government bodies to act in line with their powers and in the way foreseen by the Constitution of Ukraine and Ukrainian law.

Executive officer of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council Vasyl Skrypnychuk, explaining the rejection of the protest, said that the language law was approved in violation of the Constitution of Ukraine and a number of Ukrainian laws, and that it "directly contradicts the decisions of the Constitutional Court."

Skrypnychuk said that according to the Constitution of Ukraine, Ukrainian is the state language and it is a component of the constitutional formation.

"That's why adoption of the language law is proof of a non-constitutional, illegal seizure of power by the parliamentary majority," the deputy said.

He also said that the deputies who supported this law, "provided assistance to a foreign state in conducting demolition activity against Ukraine," acting to harm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and that their actions could be considered treason.

"In such way, the mentioned law could be considered a result of the criminal actions of an organized group directed against basis of the national security of Ukraine," the official said.

He also referred to the strict position of the region's citizens regarding a single state Ukrainian language.

As reported, Ivano-Frankivsk state regional council reported that the law on languages cannot be implemented on the territory of the region.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a bill initiated by the Regions Party "On the basis of state language policy" on July 3.

On August 8, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed this law, and charged the Cabinet of Ministers with creating a working group to draw up proposals on improving the legislation on order to use Ukrainian languages.

The law came into force on August 10. It foresees the possibility of the existence of two official languages in those regions in which the percentage of persons from national minorities exceed 10%.