KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2018) Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who intends to run in the country's 2019 presidential election, promised on Friday to ensure the dominance of the Ukrainian language in the country if elected the Ukrainian leader.
Ukraine will hold the presidential election on March 31, 2019, while the campaign will kick off in December. Tymoshenko is currently leading in polls.
"We will support by all means the Ukrainian language in all areas of our lives without exception. The Ukrainian language will finally establish its dominance in Ukraine," Tymoshenko said during the presentation of her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party's program.
Tymoshenko also promised to set up a fund that would be responsible for the translation of works of the Ukrainian literature into foreign languages.
The party has also suggested introducing responsibility for the denial of the autocephalous Ukrainian church, which is currently being formed in the country based on the non-canonical Ukrainian orthodox churches in contradiction to church canons.
"We will envisage severe punishment for any acts of vandalism, calls for violence and will introduce responsibility for the denial of our church," Tymoshenko stated.
Tymoshenko added that, if elected president, she will do her utmost to establish the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which will then be protected by all available means.
In October, the Ukrainian parliament adopted in the first reading a bill on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as official, which provides for the use of the Ukrainian in almost all areas of life. According to the bill, the use of Ukrainian is mandatory for the government and local government bodies, all the educational institutions, health facilities and the service sector.
The Ukrainian authorities have recently been making efforts to increase the role of the Ukrainian language in the country, adopting controversial measures, in particular, in education. Under the new Ukrainian legislation, children from national minority groups are now able to study in their native language only at the Primary school level, while secondary and post-secondary education will be only in Ukrainian. The full switch to Ukrainian-language education is set for September 1, 2020.
The legislation has been criticized by the countries that have their respective ethnic minorities in Ukraine, including Russia, Moldova, and Romania.
