At the gateway to EU accession, it seems to have become crucial to solve one particular problem in Ukraine, namely the issue of the use of the native language by national minorities. The importance of this issue goes far beyond a strictly language-related problem.
The root cause of this issue is that according to the authorities of Kyiv, there are huge territories in Western Ukraine where residents do not feel like Ukrainian citizens and a so-called linguistic gap emerged. The main territories in question are in some areas of the Transcarpatian Region with a high concentration of ethnic Hungarians and, certain parts of the Chernivtsi Region where Romanian-speakers constitute an absolute majority.
In recent years, the Ukrainian government has tried to resolve this complex situation with the introduction of a new language law and education law, but their incorrect and arrogant approach (’No to linguistic ghettos in Ukraine!’) has only led to further confrontations with the respective EU member states.
In 2023, addressing the national minority issue has become one of the main conditions to meet for starting accession negotiations with Ukraine.
It was only a few months ago that the Ukrainian government realised that, in order to move towards European integration, Ukraine must make some compromises, including a change in its policy on national minorities, especially the issue of mother-tongue education. Ukraine’s leaders realised that a lot was at stake.
First signs of détente have become visible in early autumn, in particular, in statements by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna.’Ukraine, as a future EU member state, is committed to protecting European values, which are based on human rights and equality’, she said, stressing that ’the protection and observance of human rights and freedoms, including the rights of national minorities in Ukraine, had always been a priority for the Ukrainian Government’. She also promised to ’create stable conditions at the national and regional levels to meet the needs and effectively exercise the rights and opportunities of national minorities and indigenous peoples of Ukraine in accordance with international legal standards, promote intercultural competence, interaction and mutual understanding’.
As a result of numerous rounds of bilateral consultations, Romania and Ukraine finally agreed on the language and education issues in October. The two governments signed a joint statement which stresses the importance of developing the bilateral legal framework on the field of education, ’based on the principle of equivalent level of protection of the rights of persons belonging to the Romanian minority in Ukraine and the persons belonging to the Ukrainian minority in Romania’.
As it was earlier mentioned, Romania is not the only country in the EU that has disputes with Ukraine in the field of national minority rights. Hungary is in a very similar situation. At the same time, the Hungarian government, which maintains quite tense relations with Kyiv, has not taken all these steps that Bucharest has already taken, and it is unlikely to do so in the near future. In order to gain progress, Hungarian government’s choice was not to hold further negotiations with Kyiv, but to use the right of veto in Brussels.
In November, in order to avoid further vetoes on its Euro-integration path, Kyiv promised it will change its legislation on national minorities primarily in view of the issues with the educational process – and, some progress is indeed being made, but Budapest still considers it unsatisfactory. Based on statistics and considering its own experiences about Kyiv in terms of issues related to minority rights, Hungary suggested offering Ukraine a privileged partnership instead of EU membership.
I don’t know whether Hungary is right or wrong when it is in a constant ’fight for freedom’ but Ukraine has not fulfilled all the conditions for negotiations with the EU – this is a fact. Sad as it is, this is the truth.
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