Minister Hrynevych says Education Act's language section not to be amended but Venice Commission findings will be taken into account

The conclusions made by the European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, regarding the education language section of the Ukraine's Education Act will be taken into account by the Ukrainian government when implementing the Act but the law itself will remain unchanged.

As reported by Censor.NET citing Interfax-Ukraine, Education and Science Minister Lilia Hrynevich said Monday commenting on the position of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.

"The findings of the Venice Commission will be a milestone on the way to resolve this situation. The meeting shall take place Dec. 8 while the recommendations of the Venice Commission shall be published on or about Dec. 10," she said.

Hrynevych said that the Commission findings would be taken into account by the Ukrainian authorities when implementing the Education Act and drafting subsequent laws.

"We can proceed from these recommendations and later implement the language section of the Education Act through a special law, for example the law on general secondary education," the minister said.

She pinpointed that the Verkhovna Rada had not enough votes to amend Education Act's language section.

"So far I see no chances that the amendments to this section may win votes of the majority in the parliament because it was this very section (its wording - Ed.) that found lawmakers' support at the second reading of the Education Act," Hrynevych explained.

On Oct. 5, Ukraine's parliament adopted Education Act of Ukraine providing that education in schools can be held in the languages of ethnic minorities up to 4th grade. From the 5th grade up, school students are obliged to take all classes in Ukrainian, the only state language in Ukraine. The provision sparked criticism by Budapest, which threatened to block Ukraine decisions in the EU over the language provision. On Sept. 25, President Poroshenko signed the bill.

The Ukraine's Education Act has been opposed by Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, and Moldova.

The bill came into force on Sept. 28.

On Oct. 10, head of Hungarian Foreign Ministry Peter Szijjarto refused to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin during the former's visit to the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine.