You're reading: Deputy PM: Rhetoric on Ukrainian language law may change a little after elections in Hungary

Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze expects a change of rhetoric regarding the language article of the Ukrainian law “On Education” from the Hungarian side and the Hungarian minority in Ukraine after the elections in Hungary.

“We expect the elections and the formation of a new Hungarian government. I think that at least rhetoric will change a little,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said on Channel 5 on Thursday evening.

At the same time, she stressed that Ukraine is “ready for a bilateral dialogue, for consultations with the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.” “We see the alleged readiness of the representatives of the Hungarian minority to go to the Ministry of Education and Science for consultations at first, and at the last moment we hear about the abolition of this willingness to participate. And now the Ministry of Education and Science has received a letter from the representatives of the Hungarian minority, saying that they will not participate in the consultations until there is a decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on this article. They are looking for causes all the time, reasons for complicating the situation, and not finding solutions,” she said.

At the same time, she notes that the Ukrainian language norm in the law on education “is not so rigid, as Latvia has introduced, which again and again indicates that we in no way violate any European norms, no approaches to the protection of national minorities, which we assumed as a commitment in the framework of our international obligations.”

The deputy PM stated her intentions to continue defending the language norm in the law on education. “Although we do not talk tough, we very clearly defend our educational law. We very clearly defend our right to implement it in a way that meets the national, state interests of Ukraine,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

The Ukrainian law on education came into force on September 28, 2017. Among other things, the law stipulates that the state language is a language of learning at educational institutions, but one or several subjects in two or more languages, namely, the state language, English and other European Union official languages can be taught in compliance with the educational program. People who belong to ethnic minorities are guaranteed the right for learning in the native language along with the Ukrainian language in separate groups of municipal pre-school and primary school institutions.

On September 26, Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced it would block Ukraine’s rapprochement with the European Union because of the law on education. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry sent the law to the Venice Commission for vetting. On December 8, the Ukrainian Education and Science Ministry reported that the Venice Commission had not supported Hungary’s accusation of narrowing the rights of national minorities in the article on the language of instruction in Ukraine’s law on education. Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science declared its readiness to implement the recommendations of the commission and developed three models for the implementation of the language article in the law “On General Secondary Education.”