You're reading: Rada passes at first reading language bill submitted by Regions Party faction

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has passed at first reading a bill on the principles of the state language policy.

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, a total of 234 MPs voted for the bill on Tuesday, June 1.

By request of the oppositional factions, a thirty-minute break was announced in the sitting of the parliament.

As reported, numerous protesters, as well as supporters of the adoption of the bill, gathered near the parliament on Tuesday morning.

According to the constitution, Ukrainian is the state language in the country. At the same time, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in his presidential campaign and the Regions Party promised to make Russian the second state language. Some 300 votes are necessary to amend the constitution.

On May 24, 2012 debates on the language bill, which was submitted by Regions Party faction MPs Vadym Kolesnichenko and Serhiy Kivalov, ended with a brawl.

Under the bill, Ukrainian is the official language, while there are also regional or minority languages: Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Armenian, Gagauz, Yiddish, Crimean Tatar, Moldovan, German, Greek, Polish, Romani, Rumanian, Slovak, Hungarian, Rusyn, Karaim and Krymchak.

According to the document, if the number of native speakers of one of these languages is 10% or more of the population of the territory on which the language is used, then measures aimed at use of regional and minority languages will apply.

In separate cases local councils will decide whether a national minority language can be used if the number of speakers of this language is not less than 10% on the relevant territory.

The opposition claims that this bill is anti-Ukrainian. A member of the Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense parliamentary faction, Oles Doniy, said that "if this bill becomes a law, you can forget about the Ukrainian language [being spoken] in cities."