The European Commission intends to study and give its assessment to the law on the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said Maya Kocijancic, spokeswoman for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the EU Commission Federica Mogherini.
We know that the Ukrainian parliament adopted a new law on language. Now we are waiting for the publication of the final version of this law in order to study its content, she stated at a briefing in Brussels on Friday.
At the same time, Kocijancic reminded that the EU constantly said that the Ukrainian authorities should send a law on language to be assessed by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe before it comes into force.
As reported, on April 25, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, passed as a whole a draft law on the Ukrainian language, which provides for the mandatory use of the national language by government agencies, local self-government and in other spheres of public life. Corresponding bill No. 5670-d on ensuring the use of Ukrainian as the national language passed its the second reading and was generally supported by 278 lawmakers at a plenary session of the parliament on Thursday.
Zhovtnevy district court in Mariupol has declared inaccurate information regarding Interchem pharmaceutical company (Odesa) posted by one of Odesa websites.
According to the press service of the pharmaceutical company, the court issued such a decision, having considered the suit of Interchem regarding the article “Does the Odesa enterprise kill Ukrainian youth?”
Interchem noted that this text was made public on one of the online portals in Odesa, 048.ua, and then was actively disseminated on the Internet in order to put pressure on the enterprise.
“Interchem pharmaceutical company was called the manufacturer of cheap drugs in the report. It was pointed out that its director general Anatoliy Reder was repeatedly involved in criminal proceedings, there was also other information discrediting honor and dignity. After the authors [of the article] had failed to confirm the information, the court obliged the owner of the resource to refute the report,” the company said.
The court satisfied the claims on recognizing the disseminated information as false, violating the honor, dignity and business reputation of Reder and Interchem.
Interchem is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine. It was founded in 1992. It is the only Ukrainian manufacturer of medicines for hard and cancer patients, as well as one of the drug suppliers under the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria programs.
If an early parliamentary election is announced in Ukraine, the country’s Central Elections Commission (CEC) will be ready to hold it despite possible difficulties that may arise due to a tight timeframe for organizing the vote, CEC head Tetiana Slipachuk said. “I think that if a relevant decision is made based on all legal grounds, we have little chance of being unprepared. I’d rather ask how promptly all the issues will be resolved in order to make such things happen? Because we have a question about legislation that regulates elections the timeline and procedure for public procurement that will be a far greater problem during parliamentary elections than in a presidential election,” Slipachuk said at a press briefing on Tuesday in answering a question from Interfax-Ukraine.
All of the abovementioned aspects are interconnected, and the CEC will do everything in its power to take steps needed within the electoral process, she said.
Volodymyr Zelensky has won the runoff presidential election in Ukraine with 73.22% of the vote and has been elected president, the Ukrainian Central Elections Commission (CEC) said in a statement on Tuesday. CEC Chairperson Tetiana Slipachuk read out the final ballot protocol at the Tuesday ceremony where the official election results were announced, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent said in a report.
According to the CEC, the fifth Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko got 24.45% of the vote in the April 21 election.
CEC members reported the results of voting from all regions of Ukraine and foreign countries at the meeting.
According to Slipachuk, the CEC was informed by appeal courts that they had had no complaints regarding the runoff election left as of 9 a.m. on April 30.
The final protocol was approved and signed by all CEC members but Iryna Yefremova, who is absent for good reason, Slipachuk said. Following this, the protocol was signed by representatives of both presidential candidates.
The runoff presidential election in Ukraine took place on April 21. The voter turnout stood at 61.37%, including in the foreign electoral district. As many as 18,491,840 out of 29,645,358 eligible voters cast ballots.
The leader of the Batkivschyna Party, MP Yulia Tymoshenko is convinced that the idea to revise the powers of the president proposed in the draft law initiated by Samopomich contradicts the Constitution. “In my opinion, the bill proposed by Samopomich contradicts the Constitution. In addition, the country was bored with political intrigue, dragging of power and attempts to change the rules during the game. People are waiting for changes in their lives, actions and results,” Tymoshenko said on Facebook. According to her, the powers of the president are clearly defined by the Constitution. And we must allow the elected head of state to do his job, she added.
Ukrainian and Belarusian diplomats have agreed to facilitate preparations for the second Forum of Regions to be held in Zhytomyr in October 2019. Such an agreement was reached during political consultations between Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Andrei Yeudachenka, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
In addition, an agreement was reached on preparing for signing the plan of consultations between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Belarus for 2020-2021.
As reported, the first Forum of Regions of Ukraine and Belarus was held in Gomel on October 26, 2018. It was attended by the presidents of the countries, Petro Poroshenko and Alexander Lukashenko. They decided to hold the second forum in Zhytomyr.
