Federica Mogherini: The EU will start discussion with Ukraine on the new Education Act

The European Union will discuss the new Education Law with Kyiv after the Venice Commission reaches a conclusion on the issue, said Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union (EU) Foreign and Security Policy in Luxembourg, on Monday after the EU Foreign Ministers meeting.

Responding to a journalist question, Mogherini confirmed that the new Ukrainian Education Act was on the agenda of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting.

She reminded that bilateral discussions on minority language education were already held with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in New York at the UN General Assembly meeting in September where the two sides agreed to continue reviewing provisions of the language law affecting minority rights.

Mogherini also reported that the Council of Ministers reaffirmed the Union’s commitment to protecting human rights as well as ways of promoting these rights in bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

Following the meeting, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said neither Federica Mogherini nor Johannes Hahn objected the Hungarian initiative to put the new Ukrainian Education Law on the agenda of the EU-Ukraine Association Council’s next meeting in early December.

Szijjártó stated that the Hungarian government is ready to debate the issue, but its outcome will largely depends on the withdrawal, or at least, the suspension of elements of the Education Law that violates minority rights.

Photo: MTI/EPA/Julien Warnand

Source: MTI, translated by hungarianambiance.com