Fidesz: New education law could threaten Ukraine’s stability

Ungvár, 2017. szeptember 11. Simon-Árpa Zsuzsanna magyar nyelvórát tart a 9.a osztály tanulóinak az Ungvári 10. Számú Dayka Gábor Magyar Tannyelvû Középiskolában 2017. szeptember 11-én. Az ukrán parlament által a közelmúltban elfogadott módosított oktatási törvény kimondja, hogy a kisebbségi nyelven történõ oktatás csakis az óvodákban és az általános iskola alsó tagozataiban lesz lehetséges a jövõben. MTI Fotó: Nemes János

The coming into effect of Ukraine’s new education law could have a very harmful effect on that country’s stability, the head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee said on Monday.

If Ukraine becomes unstable, it will put its European integration perspective at risk, Zsolt Németh told a press conference commenting on the new law, which is set to gradually phase out education in ethnic minority languages after the fifth grade of primary school.

Nemeth, of ruling Fidesz, welcomed that the related Hungarian parliamentary resolution would be supported by all the five parliamentary parties in the Tuesday vote. The resolution will condemn Ukraine’s new education law which threatens the future of 80 ethnic Hungarian schools in Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja), and call on the Ukrainian president to block its coming into effect, he said.

Németh welcomed that

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and his Bulgarian, Greek and Romanian counterparts had taken a joint stand against the new law.

As we wrote, the Russian foreign ministry also called for an international co-operation against the Ukrainian education law, which according to the ministry, violates the rights of millions of ethnic Russians, and it is contrary to Ukraine’s constitution and Kiev’s international commitments.

The committee leader said international organisations are also expected to take action in order to prevent the law from coming into force. As we wrote, the Hungarian government is to call on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the UN and the EU Commissioner for neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations to act on the Ukrainian education bill curbing the right to minority language education.

Németh said he had contacted the head of Romania’s delegation in the Council of Europe and they agreed to initiate an urgent debate about the Ukrainian law at the upcoming CoE session in October.

He expressed agreement with the Ukrainian government’s request for the Venice Commission’s opinion.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI

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