On June 5, 2012, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the first reading adopted the controversial draft law "On the foundations of state language policy." The meeting was accompanied by massive protests organized outside the walls of parliament.
The bill guarantees the free use of Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Armenian, Yiddish, Crimean Tatar, Moldavian, German, Gagauz, Polish, Modern Greek, Romanian, Roma, Slovak, Hungarian, Karaite, Crimean and Ruthenian languages. At the same time, paragraph 1 of Article 6 of this draft provides for the preservation of the state status of the Ukrainian language.
Article 11 of the new law stipulates that acts of local authorities and local self-government should be adopted and published in the state language, in areas where regional languages are spoken - in both. According to article 13, information about its owner is entered into the passport of a citizen of Ukraine in the state language or in two, at the request of the citizen. The same applies to educational documents.
According to article 20, all citizens of Ukraine are granted the right to receive education in the state or regional language (within the territory where it is widespread). The article applies to preschool, general secondary, secondary vocational and higher educational institutions. Provided there is a sufficient number of applications from parents or students, educational institutions need to create separate groups or classes in which instruction will be conducted in another language.
Article 24 of the draft law establishes that television and radio broadcasting can be carried out both in Ukrainian and in the regional language at the discretion of the television and radio companies. The language of the print media is established by their founders.
Article 28 for every citizen of Ukraine secures the right to use his name, surname and patronymic in his native language. The recording of these data in any official documents is carried out with the prior approval of the citizen.
The Ukrainian language remains the only language in the military formations of Ukraine (Article 29). Agreements and cartographic publications, in accordance with Articles 19 and 27, must be drawn up in the state language.
