The first week of October was rich in political events. The parliament passed a new language law, made “Glory to Ukraine” the official greeting of the Ukrainian military, and prolonged the legislation giving special status to the occupied territories. After this, the parliament will take a one-week break, and go back into session on Oct. 16.
Language bill, sanctions
On Oct. 4, the parliament passed in the first reading the much-discussed language bill with 261 votes.
The draft law “On State Language” was widely publicized, due to its Article 20, which requires the media to either have their broadcasting performed in Ukrainian language or have a translation for all non-Ukrainian language programs.
The language bill, however, passed through the first reading without the much-criticized article that would establish a service of 27 “language inspectors.” The inspectors would be language experts who would be ensuring the correct usage of the Ukrainian language.
The bill saw criticism from the Russian language media, as they saw this bill as a direct political attack against them.
The notion of a political attack grew stronger as the parliament voted on Oct. 4 to ask the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to impose sanctions on companies that own TV channels NewsOne and Channel 112 Ukraine. Both have been seen as having a pro-Russian stance and are reportedly owned by pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk through proxy owners. Medvedchuk, who often appears and gets quoted on both stations, denies he owns them.
If the council imposes sanctions, both channels can lose their license and will have to stop broadcasting.
Donbas special status
The Verkhovna Rada on Oct. 4 prolonged the law “On Donbas Special Status” till Dec. 31, 2019, with President Petro Poroshenko signing it a couple of hours later. The law itself was passed by the parliament back in 2014, as part of Ukraine’s commitment to the Minsk Accords. OSCE and other international observers praised this decision to prolong the law, as an important step in achieving peace in Donbas.
The law itself promises special status to the regions of Ukraine controlled by the Russian-separatist forces, since 2014 within Ukraine after de-escalation and the withdrawal of the military on both sides. However, it hasn’t yet come to it, so the law hasn’t been used. The law needs to be prolonged every year.
‘Glory to Ukraine’
One of the bills adopted by the parliament in the second reading on Oct. 4 was an amendment to the charter of the Ukrainian Armed Forces making Glory to Ukraine (Slava Ukrayini) the official salutation for military personnel.
From now on, an official salute from an officer must be Slava Ukrayini (Glory to Ukraine) and must be followed by Heroyam Slava (Glory to Heroes) by the soldiers.
“Glory to Ukraine” is an old greeting of Ukrainian patriots that came into use during the Ukrainian War for Independence in 1917-1921.
In addition to that, the Soviet greeting Tovarish (Comrade) was changed to Pan (Mr.), a traditional Ukrainian greeting.
The amendments were proposed by Poroshenko during the opening of the parliamentary session in September and were marked as urgent.
Many people supported the initial decommunization effort back in 2014 and with Tovarish (Comrade) being a purely Soviet invention, it was a matter of time when it would be dropped.
Lawmakers under investigation
The parliament failed on Oct. 4 to strip Serhiy Dunaev, a lawmaker with the 43-member Opposition Bloc, of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution. Back in September, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko asked the parliament to waive legislative immunity for three members of the Opposition Bloc – Dunaev, Oleksandr Vilkul, and Dmytro Kolesnikov.
All three were alleged in tax evasion and illegal privatization of state property. Yet, the parliamentary committee didn’t see much evidence concerning Vilkul and Kolesnikov and didn’t recommend taking actions against them. Furthermore, lawmakers eventually backed Dunaev on Oct. 4, as well.
Fixing the word ‘disabled’
On Oct. 2, the parliament voted to amend laws concerning the use of the term “disabled” person. From now on, following the example of most European countries, a person with medical conditions is referred to as “a person with a disability”, rather than being called disabled.
Corresponding with the change in terminology, on the same day the 2008 law concerning the rest and recreation of children was amended to include children of journalists who died or were seriously injured because of their work, as those who need special care and attention.
