Ukraine should not take away acquired rights of national minorities

Today the Foreign Affairs Working Group of the EPP Group received the Ukrainian Minister of Education. MEP Kinga Gál underlined in her intervention during the meeting that the use of state language cannot be detrimental to the use of the native language.

“You are taking away acquired rights of national minorities. You adopted in this law a paragraph that clearly contradicts international standards and bilateral treaties that Ukraine has signed. It is understandable that Ukraine would like that its citizens have better Ukrainian language skills. Nobody is questioning that the state language should be thought and learnt adequately. However, this does not mean that this should happen detrimentally to the use of the native language. My experience shows that forced language teaching is contra productive. The solution can lie in modernising, better developing the teaching methods. You intended „de-rusification” maybe, but you created a new tension with your own peaceful national minorities.”