The case regarding the law on minorities in Ukraine, the adoption of which caused outrage in Bucharest, was transferred to the Venice Commission.

The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) unanimously adopted a proposal initiated by Senator Titus Corlacean, a member of the delegation of the Parliament of Romania to PACE and signed by members of the delegation of Hungary to PACE, according to which the Assembly Monitoring Committee formally requests the Commission for Legal Democracy (Venice Commission) to address and adopt a conclusion formulating recommendations regarding the recently adopted law on national minorities in Ukraine, the press release of the Senate states.

The Hungarian parliamentarians who signed the proposal are Nemet Zholt (Fidesz) and Zita Gurmayi (Socialist Party).

On December 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania (MFA) sent an extremely critical analysis to Kyiv after the adoption of the law on national minorities in Ukraine, considering it “regrettable” that the normative act was adopted without consultation with the Venice Commission and the Romanian community in Ukraine.

Minister Bohdan Aurescu handed over the position to his Ukrainian colleague Dmytro Kuleba along with a list of provisions that, according to the Romanian side, “may have a negative impact, referring to European standards.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminds that in the Conclusion formulated on June 17, 2022 regarding Ukraine’s application to join the European Union, the European Commission indicated, among the steps to be taken, the completion of the reform of the legislative framework regarding the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, and immediate adoption of effective implementation mechanisms.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers it regrettable that the law was adopted in the absence of new consultations of the Venice Commission, the conclusion of which would certainly contribute to ensuring a comprehensive and clear text from the point of view of European legal standards in this matter, including by examining how its previous recommendations are reflected in the regulatory text. It is also regrettable that the law was adopted in the absence of proper consultations with the representatives of the Romanian community in Ukraine, as the Romanian side demanded,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Ministry headed by Bohdan Auresku asks the Ukrainian authorities to consult with the Venice Commission at this stage and fully implement its recommendations, given that the law provides for a six-month period for its entry into force.

“Romania fully supports the European path of Ukraine and understands the natural desire to speed up the process of rapprochement with the EU, tnsă signals that the untimely acceleration of the legislative process in this area significantly affected the process of consultations with representatives of national minorities, which should have been one of the essential ones before the adoption of the law. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that it has repeatedly appealed to the Ukrainian side with a request to carefully consult the Romanian community in Ukraine in the process of drafting and adopting the law,” the message reads.