Statement by YABLOKO Chairman, February 24, 2014

The YABLOKO party supports the idea of European integration, which has been the main driving force of the February revolution in Ukraine. The strive of the new Ukrainian government and the active part of the Ukrainian society for integration with Europe presumes that the country’s leadership will respect the core values of democracy and human rights, the rights of national minorities apparently belong to such rights.

It is therefore alarming that one of the first initiatives of the deputies of [the Ukrainian Parliament] Verkhovna Rada has been on abolishing of the “Law on the Language Policy” from 2012, according to which the Russian language had the status of a regional language where it was native to at least 10 per cent of the population (in 13 out of 27 regions of Ukraine). But Verkhovna Rada has not stopped there: now, a new draft law on national languages stipulating that the Ukrainian language will be the only state language is being developed.

These solutions sharply contradict the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, signed by Ukraine in 2006.

Cancelling the regional status of the Russian language fundamentally contradicts to the norms and practices of the European countries where not only large, but even small groups [have the right to] speak different languages. The EU institutions officially use 24 languages, and EU citizens have the right to appeal to the authorities and get answers in any of these languages.

In Spain, there are six official languages, Spanish has the same status as the Basque and the Aranese languages. In Finland there are two state languages and three in Luxembourg. We would like to stress here that in this case we are speaking of unitary states only, Ukraine inclusive, and not of federal states.

In Ukraine the opportunity to use the Russian language is vital for half of its population, and all Ukrainians can speak it. Disputes about the state language have already led to conflicts in Ukraine spilling out into the streets. Strongly advocating the integrity of Ukraine as a state and wishing a speedy restoration of law and order there for the benefit of the Ukrainian people, we note with concern that such solutions do not facilitate reaching these goals. Adoption of this law in the context of changing of the regime and ongoing conflicts could trigger new conflicts and deepen the conflict between the Russian-speaking and the Ukrainian-speaking regions and population groups.

Restrictions in the use of the Russian language do not bring Ukraine closer to the European Union, but move it away from it. We are urging Verkhovna Rada to cancel the decision and thereby ensure consistency in the implementation of the European slogans of the Ukrainian revolution. Restrictions of minorities’ rights (including language minorities) are unacceptable in Europe.

Sergei Mitrokhin,

YABLOKO Chairman