Lessons in Hungarian. The Verkhovna Rada Found the Key to Hungary

The Verkhovna Rada, which convened for a session on Monday, 12 October, after a month-long recess, adopted in full a bill aimed at ensuring the educational rights of Ukraine's indigenous peoples and persons belonging to national minorities (communities). Members of parliament call this bill “Hungarian” among themselves, since it was effectively adopted to please Budapest. Hungary is blocking the opening of two clusters (second and third) in talks about Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

This is happening against the backdrop of general tension in relations between the Ukrainian authorities and the recently elected prime minister of Hungary, Peter Orban. The removal of the openly anti-Ukrainian Viktor Orban did not lead to a thaw in Kyiv–Budapest relations. Under Orban's leadership, the Hungarian government has openly used the issue of national minorities as a screen to block Ukraine's eurointegration and Euro-Atlantic aspirations and financial aid from the EU.

Orban removed from the relations between our countries the radical anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and the outright flirting with the Kremlin. He does not threaten a global veto over Ukraine's entire eurointegration package. However, he presents Kyiv with a clear bill for concessions. Under other circumstances, the approval of the rather controversial draft law No. 16119 would almost certainly have sparked heated debates in the Verkhovna Rada, but now there is too much at stake.

Ukraine opened the first and sixth clusters in the EU accession talks in June and July, but further progress stalled precisely because of Hungary's position, which set its price—resolving the issue of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. It is hard to judge whether the same Magyars have such biased attitudes toward our country as their predecessor, but in any case he is obliged to reckon with the anti-Ukrainian moods of his compatriots, which were inflamed by Orban's team. The same line is followed by Hungary's demonstrative ignoring of the Carpathian Eight Summit, in which Orban not only refused to participate, but also openly criticized the Ukrainian initiative.

The Carpathian Eight Summit turned into a Seven due to Peter Magyar's demonstrative refusal to take part.

photo: Office of the President

Nevertheless, diplomacy work nonetheless bore fruit: it was agreed to unblock two EU clusters for Ukraine in exchange for support for the national minority law, which the Hungarian prime minister can present to compatriots as his achievement.

What they agreed on

This is not the first draft law that the Verkhovna Rada passes to regulate the rights of national minorities in Ukraine, but previous steps did not satisfy Hungary.

Draft No. 16119 provides for the possibility of granting general secondary education institutions (schools, gymnasiums, lyceums) the status of a national minority institution, where more than 50 % of children receive education in the language of that minority. In such schools, it is allowed to wider use of the native language during the educational process alongside the state (Ukrainian).

Russian is not covered by the law, as it regulates only the status of official languages of EU countries.

What the law provides:

In schools where there are classes taught in the languages of national minorities (which are official EU languages) or indigenous peoples, the official right to use this language is enshrined not only in separate lessons but also during other forms of communication among participants in the educational process within the building and on school premises.

The special status of an educational institution also allows it to duplicate in the national minority or indigenous language its signs, service documentation, and official education documents.

The head or deputy head of such an institution must be proficient in the respective minority or indigenous language.

The educational program of such institutions may include study of national history, traditions, culture, and customs.

The list of subjects taught in the state language in such classes may be broader. The decision on this is made by the institution itself based on a written appeal from parents representing at least two-thirds of the students in that class or group.

Individuals who received education in the language of a national minority or indigenous people have the right to take the External Independent Evaluation/National Military Test (excluding the language-literature sector) with tasks translated into the respective language. The new translation rules will take effect immediately after the law comes into force, and not in 2030 year, as previously planned.

In the event of liquidation or reorganization of municipal schools with such languages, the founder is obliged, upon parental request, to guarantee that children continue to study in that language within the community. Any reorganization or liquidation of such special schools now requires mandatory coordination with the Ministry of Education and Science.

Also a couple of important norms are contained in the final provisions of the law. If for new schools more than 50% of students are required to obtain the status of a national minority institution, then for schools that already had this right on the day the law comes into force, the bar was significantly lowered. They only need to have not less than 20% of students who study in the language of the official EU country to retain their status.

Current leaders of private educational institutions with national minority classes (which already hold positions at the time the law comes into force) do not need to retake certificates or prove their level of Ukrainian.

Opponents of the draft law believe that it could finally push the Ukrainian language out of the educational process in Transcarpathia.

“We do not pass laws for a single minority”

One of the authors of the draft, head of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Mykyta Poturaev, notes that it would be wrong to call this bill “Hungarian.” “We never pass laws for any one national minority; they must satisfy needs—educational, cultural, linguistic, and other—of any national minority that exists in Ukraine, except for language and cultural questions of the aggressor state,” the deputy assures. “Our Romanian colleagues also welcome this bill, although there are fewer Romanians in Ukraine than Hungarians. It indeed simplifies the procedure for registering schools and classes of national minorities and guarantees their preservation, even if the number of students studying in the language of the national minority decreases. For example, due to its “dilution” by refugee children.”

One of the authors of the bill, MP Mykyta Poturaev, assures that the document should not be called “Hungarian.”

photo: Unian

Poturaev explains the mechanism: if the share of children who wish to study in the national minority language falls below 20%, the Ministry of Education, together with the parents' committee and school leadership, begins consultations to understand how to preserve the special status of that school.

However, despite relative unity in the hall in support of this bill, there are cautions among deputies. For example, MP from Holos Nataliya Pypa during the debate in the chamber cited cases where children in Transcarpathian schools cannot answer a simple greeting “Good day!”, let alone name in Ukrainian their favorite school subject.

But overall the adoption of this bill at this stage satisfied both Kyiv and Budapest. Tomorrow, 13 October, a meeting of the EU Council in Luxembourg will take place, where the final decision on opening two eurointegration clusters for Ukraine is to be made.

Pavlo Vuyets, Glavkom