The chairwoman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) MP Biro Rozalia, considers that the law on national minorities in Ukraine is unconstitutional, stating that the Venice Commission should be consulted, according to Agerpres.

„We are trying to keep the path of parliamentary dialogue open, even if what we see with the law on minorities and the law on education is something we cannot agree with. The initiatives taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by Minister Aurescu, might help us that through a more widely, stronger dialogue to be able to ask the Ukrainian side for a rethinking of this minority law and possibly an extension of the transition period towards the enforcement of the education law,” said Biro Rozalia in a press conference on Tuesday.

The education law would be put into practice from September 1, 2023, and the national minorities in Ukraine, starting from the fifth grade, will have to learn in the Ukrainian language and will have only two to three hours weekly in the mother tongue, which, the UDMR Mp says, is „absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of what is stipulated in the Constitution of Ukraine”, which guarantees the right of citizens belonging to national minorities to learn in their mother tongue, rights that cannot be limited.

„Here comes a law (the law of national minorities, ed. n.) that does not ensure collective rights for national minorities in Ukraine and that further restricts the use of the mother tongue, both in the field of education and in public life, day by day, of the national minorities living in Ukraine,” said the UDMR MP.

Since the position of the European Commission on this subject is „so neutral that it does not help us at all,” deputy Biro Rozalia believes that Ukrainian parliamentarians should consult the Venice Commission on the law of national minorities.

On December 22, 2022, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an extremely critical analysis to Kyiv after the adoption of the law on national minorities in Ukraine, considering it „regrettable” that the normative act was adopted without consulting the Venice Commission and the Romanian community in Ukraine.

Agerpres