On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Constitutional Court declared the legislation on the functioning of Ukrainian as the state language, better known as the Language Act, as constitutional, the Ukrainska Pravda news portal reported, citing Marjana Hajovska-Kovbaszyuk, head of the communication department of the body.

According to the promise of the Constitutional Court, the full text of the decision will be published on July 15. The news portal reminded: 51 members of parliament submitted a petition to the body to consider the constitutionality of the law. The Constitutional Court needed a year to reach its decision.

Taras Kreminy, the commissioner responsible for the protection of the state language, welcomed the board's decision.

The parliament adopted the law on the functioning of Ukrainian as a state language on April 25, 2019, in the last weeks of Petro Poroshenko's presidency, but it came into force only in July, i.e. after the inauguration of the current head of state, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Ukrainska Pravda pointed out.

Along with others, Transcarpathian Hungarian organizations vehemently protested against the law, because in their opinion it eliminated all linguistic rights of minorities. The law makes the use of the Ukrainian language mandatory practically everywhere except for private conversations and religious ceremonies. In addition, it even foresees legal liability for the violation of the use of the Ukrainian language and the rules related to it.

The request of the 51 representatives to review the constitutionality of the law was received by the vested body on June 21, 2019, which began examining the petition on July 7, 2020. The mostly pro-Moscow representatives took the position that the law does not comply with the constitution, because it does not regulate the procedure for the use of the languages ​​of national minorities, and some of its legal provisions "actually constitute discrimination against Russian-speaking citizens".

Article 10 of the Ukrainian constitution states that Ukrainian is the state language in Ukraine, the news portal pointed out.

MTI

Cover photo: Zsuzsanna Simon-Árpa holds a Hungarian language lesson for the students of the 9th grade at the Dayka Gábor Hungarian Secondary School No. 10 in Ungvár on September 11, 2017.
Photo: MTI / János Nemes