No discrimination against minority languages in Ukraine - Poroshenko

There are no problems in Ukraine for the full study and use by representatives of national minorities of their mother tongues, European Solidarity party leader and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.
He said this at a meeting of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee in Strasbourg on Thursday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Discrimination is the situation when representatives of national minorities do not fully master the state Ukrainian language during the eleven years of education in secondary schools. After all, such young people are losing opportunities to fully represent themselves in public life," Poroshenko told his colleagues in the European Parliament during a discussion on the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and human rights in Ukraine.

Poroshenko recalled that according to the law on education in Ukraine, 50% of the time of study is conducted in the Ukrainian language and 50% in the languages of national minorities.

"Let's understand each other, trust each other, see Ukraine as a European state where the languages of national minorities are protected. I cannot accept the position that there are problems with minority languages in Ukraine. Considerable attention is given to the protection of such languages in Ukraine, both by the previous government and the current one," he said.