Cabinet moves to remove Russian from list of languages protected under European Charter applies
The Cabinet of Ministers has proposed to the Verkhovna Rada an update to the list of languages to which the support and special protection regime provided for by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages applies.
According to Taras Melnychuk, the Cabinet of Ministers’ representative in the Verkhovna Rada, the relevant decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
In particular, the draft law "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine in Connection with the Update of the Official Translation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" was approved.
The draft law proposes aligning the title and provisions of the laws "On the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages," "On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine," and "On Media" with the updated official translation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in January 2024.
The draft law also proposes updating the list of languages to which the support and special protection regime provided by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages applies.
Additionally, the draft law intends to establish that the provisions of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages will apply to the following languages in Ukraine: Belarusian, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Crimean Tatar, Modern Greek, German, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian, Czech, and Hebrew.
Thus, Russian and Moldovan would be excluded from the list, and Hebrew would be replaced with Czech.