Ukrainian legislature modernizes minority rights laws, clearing path for EU talks

The Verkhovna Rada approved draft law No. 10288-1 as a whole, which provides for changes to some laws regarding the rights of national minorities, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said. This is done to fulfill the criteria of the European Commission for the opening of negotiations on accession to the EU.

317 parliamentarians voted "for". All factions worked on this version of the draft law.

The draft law provides for the following changes:

→ the protection of the right to use the languages of national minorities of Ukraine is ensured by the human rights commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine;

→ guaranteeing the right to use the language of the national minority in the educational process along with the state language;

→ expansion of the right to use the languages of national minorities in the media and publishing activities.

The co-author of the bill, a member of the committee, Volodymyr Vyatrovych, stated that all innovations will not apply to the Russian language as the language of the aggressor state, "and not for 5 years, as the government had planned, but indefinitely."

On November 3, 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law on national communities.

Ukraine acquired the status of a candidate country for joining the European Union in 2022. At the same time, the European Commission provided Ukraine with an action plan that must be implemented in order to start negotiations on joining the EU.

On November 8, the European Commission recommended starting accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.

Politico wrote that the European Union is preparing to officially announce the start of accession negotiations in December 2023.