Ukraine upon the promulgation of the new Education Law
Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko has promulgated the controversial Education Law
Roxana Vasile, 26.09.2017, 13:34
After the visit paid by Romanian president Klaus Iohannis to Ukraine in March 2015, his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, came to Bucharest a year later. The talks between the two officials have been described as fruitful, against the background of good vicinity issues as well as the constant support Romania has given to this state plagued by a bloody conflict sparked off by the pro-Russia rebels in the country’s east.
The minority issue has not been neglected. Both Romania and Ukraine at that time highlighted the major role the Romanian minority in Ukraine (which accounts for 500 thousand people) and the Ukrainian minority in Romania, were playing in their bilateral relations.
The Ukrainian minority in Romania has benefited from considerable support from the Romanian state amounting to 1.6 million euros per year. President Iohannis has also tackled with his Ukrainian counterpart the need for an improved response from Kiev to the needs and requests of the Romanian minority in Ukraine.
However, these desires are currently a pending issue after on Monday the Kiev leader decided to promulgate the controversial education law. Criticised by the authorities in Romania as well as in other countries, which have ethnic minorities in the ex-soviet republic, the law comes to strengthen tuition in Ukrainian language in high schools and colleges at the expense of the minorities’ languages.
No argument proved good enough to make Poroshenko change his mind and not sign the document endorsed by Verkhovna Rada in early September. Romania’s Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu jointly with his counterparts from Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary have recently sent a letter to the head of the Ukrainian diplomacy, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the High OSCE Commissioner for National Minorities in which they have voiced concern about the new law on education and have called for the observance of minorities rights.
The Ombudsman Office in Romania has announced it was notified ex officio in the case of the new law.
Parliament in Romania has unanimously adopted a statement calling for an immediate solution from Kiev, while president Iohannis has cancelled a visit he planned to Kiev in protest against the aforementioned law. Iohannis personally informed his Ukrainian counterpart on the decision when they met at the UN General Assembly.
The Romanian community in Ukraine has described the new law as part of a process of terminating the Romanian schools and the Ukrainization of the ethnic minorities. It is true that tuition in Ukrainian is a major stake in the eastern regions controlled by the pro-Russia separatists but no few are those who believe that the present law could flare up new tensions and instability across the country. Kiev has pledged its attitude towards national minorities will not change, that it will meet its international obligations and be in line with European standards.
