As part of the European integration process, the Ukrainian parliament established the concept of "national minorities (communities)" and the rights and obligations of persons belonging to national minorities in a new law.
The Ukrainian parliament adopted a new law on national minorities on Tuesday, repealing the previous law from 1992, MTI said based on a report by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. According to the telegraph office, the adoption of the law is one of the conditions for Ukraine to start negotiations on its accession to the European Union.
The proposal establishes the concept of "national minorities (communities)", the rights and obligations of persons belonging to national minorities, the rights of their representatives and the peculiarities of the state policy for their enforcement, as well as the powers of the central executive body in the field of protection of persons belonging to national minorities. According to the law, a person belonging to a national minority has the right to self-identity, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, the right to freedom of opinion, belief, thought, speech, conscience and religion, and can participate in political, in economic and social life. He has the right to use the national language and to preserve the cultural identity of the community.
2022 plus:
We can even be happy that the Hungarians living in Transcarpathia and elsewhere in Ukraine will have the "right" to use their national language. But for the time being, this law does not automatically change the language law adopted in 2018, against which the Hungarian government and the organizations of the Transcarpathian Hungarian minority raised serious objections.
However, until it is amended in our favor, Hungary will not support Ukraine's application for EU membership.
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Image: AFP
