How the European integration bill on national minorities threatens the Ukrainian language
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“This is the biggest threat of revanchist changes to the language legislation in the last four years. The government should listen to calls not to allow an artificial opposition between the protection of minority rights and the protection of the state language, and not to change balanced laws on language, education, media. European integration cannot go through Russification.” – comments on the European integration bill Natalka Fedechkoco-founder and head of the All-Ukrainian movement “United”.
The All-Ukrainian movement “Unite”, which has been providing free services for learning Ukrainian for 1.5 years, supports the note of protest of the “Language unites” community regarding draft law No. 10288, supposedly aimed at the protection of national minorities. After all, the document will make significant changes to some spheres of public life on the territory of Ukraine and will worsen the functioning of the Ukrainian language.
Along with provisions that truly protect the rights of minorities, the law contains changes to the laws on language, education, media, and publishing, which will narrow the use of the Ukrainian language and destroy the mechanisms of its protection.
And, most dangerously, after a 5-year transition period, they allow large-scale Russification of television, radio broadcasting, audio and video advertising, book publishing, and other industries.
Where did the changes come from?
In June 2023, the Venice Commission criticized the Ukrainian law on national minorities. She advised to review a number of provisions related to the use of minority languages and to abolish language quotas in the Law “On Media”. On November 8, the European Commission recommended that the states of the European Union start negotiations with Ukraine on joining the EU. However, Kyiv must carry out some more reforms, in particular, implement the same recommendations of the Venice Commission regarding the law on national minorities.
The Cabinet of Ministers reacted with a corresponding draft law, which currently carries a lot of risks for the Ukrainian language.
The document critically narrows the rights of the Ukrainian language. And it also threatens to nullify the long hard work on de-Russification of education, media, advertising and book publishing. And these fears are not unfounded.
Taras Shamayda – Ukrainian public figure, co-author of the laws of Ukraine, in particular “On the Protection of the State Language”, co-coordinator of the “Space of Freedom” movement – believes that “the project was written behind the scenes, its “public discussion” lasted only one day, and the pushing through of changes, allegedly aimed at protecting democracy, takes place in the best traditions of authoritarian regimes, with a violation of democratic procedures and without a real dialogue with society. Moreover, the parliament is demanded to adopt it immediately in general already at the beginning of December.”
The non-governmental organization “Language unites”, which was previously joined by a number of language activists involved in the popularization and advocacy of the Ukrainian language, as well as founders and leaders of language public organizations, such as the “Unite” movement, made a statement detailing all legal risks.
So, we are talking about mass Russification, only postponed in time for several years (which creates a dangerous illusion, as if it will not happen soon and “somehow will dry out”). After approval of project No. 10288:
- TV channels and radio stations will be able to speak Ukrainian not 80-90% of the time, but only 30%;
- TV channels and radio stations that speak the language of any minority will immediately be able to fill 25% of the airwaves in Russian, and in a few years, Russian-language TV channels and radio stations will be able to legally operate on 70%, including nationwide.
- the very concept of a program or film in the Ukrainian language turns into an empty sound, since in formally Ukrainian-language programs or films “the use of other languages is allowed without dubbing or dubbing (…) in any works, performances, performances, etc. in languages (…) of national minorities”.
Likewise, the requirement to publish at least 50% of book titles in the Ukrainian language is de facto destroyed, since it will not apply “to publishing products published in the languages of national minorities.” Bookstores will also be able to bypass the requirement to have 50% Ukrainian-language assortment. It is enough to call itself a specialized bookstore for the realization of the rights of national minorities, and it will be possible to sell at least 100% of the products in Russian.
This is far from a complete list of the dangerous norms of project 10288. It also provides for audiovisual advertising and any election campaign materials without Ukrainian-language versions and other things that do not protect the rights of minorities as much as they discriminate against the rest of the citizens of Ukraine.
Basically, we are being offered to return the language policy to 2013, to the time of Kivalov and Kolesnichenko. Which, by the way, also justified the Russification laws with the needs of European integration.
This contradicts the Constitution, creates long-term threats to national security, destroys national unity, provoking public opposition.
In addition, the government project does a disservice to representatives of national minorities whose languages belong to the languages of the EU. In classes taught in these languages, instead of the 30% prescribed by the current law, the share of teaching in Ukrainian will be reduced to 3-4 subjects. Schoolchildren who started school before 2018 will not have these few subjects in Ukrainian either. In private universities, studies will be allowed entirely in minority languages. That is, children from national minorities are isolated in “language ghettos”, where most of them will not be able to master the Ukrainian language normally and, accordingly, will not have a chance for a normal job and career in Ukraine.
The government has failed to communicate on the issue of legislation on national minorities both with its European partners and with Ukrainian society, and is now trying to “appease” Orban and other blackmailers at the expense of the interests of Ukrainians and the Ukrainian language.
Regardless of whether anti-Ukrainian norms were written into the government draft law on purpose or its authors themselves did not understand what they wrote, the adoption of draft law No. 10288 in its current form is categorically unacceptable.
European integration and Russification are incompatible.
“The proposed postponement of the mentioned provisions for the Russian language for 5 years after the abolition of martial law is not an adequate safeguard against assimilation”, – emphasized Taras Kreminauthorized for state language rights.
In addition, Law No. 10288 allows election campaigning in the languages of national minorities. And this contradicts the Constitution and the Law “On the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language”. And also the principle of free elections, because it does not give the electorate the opportunity to freely form a political will.
Therefore, the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada should carefully rewrite the draft law without leaving a single anti-Ukrainian, especially Russifying norm in it. The parliament should involve public and expert circles in this work and come up with a text that ensures European integration without Russification and which the whole parliament will support by consensus.
#European integration without Russification
Natalka Fedechko, co-founder and leader of the All-Ukrainian movement “Edyni”, specially for “UP.Zhyttia”
Publications in the “View” section are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the author’s point of view.
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