The Verkhovna Rada has enshrined the status of English as one of the languages of international communication in Ukraine, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of the Voice faction, said in a telegram.
According to him, 236 MPs voted in favor of Bill No. 9432 on the use of English in Ukraine at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday.
As reported, according to the draft law, the state ensures compulsory study of English and promotes the study of other languages of international communication in educational institutions regardless of ownership.
In addition, the bill stipulates that preschool education institutions provide compulsory English language learning for children of older preschool age. At the same time, preschool education institutions shall ensure the mandatory use of English in the educational process for children of early, junior preschool and middle preschool age.
According to the draft law, a higher education institution has the right to decide to teach one, several or most disciplines, perform individual tasks and conduct control measures in English, which is clearly stated in the description of the educational program upon admission to the university.
The draft law also stipulates that English may also be used in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard as a language of international communication.
The draft law provides for the development and approval of a state targeted program to promote the study and use of English in Ukraine, which, in particular, should take into account the peculiarities of ensuring that cinemas (relevant cinematography entities) show foreign films in English in compliance with the requirements established by the Law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language”.
The draft law also stipulates that foreign films in English shall be screened on a reimbursable basis by cinematography entities on a voluntary basis, but in compliance with the minimum requirements.
In particular, each cinema hall in which a cinematography entity shows films must hold at least 8 demonstrations (public screenings) of films in English during a calendar month, with at least 2 demonstrations to be held during the week at any time on a weekend or on a working day with the start of the screening after 18:00.
The number of refugees from Ukraine registered for temporary protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe reached 4 million 751.07 thousand as of November 22, 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on its website.
In the month since Oct. 25, the increase was 324,32,000, up from 242,900 and 214,300 in the previous two months, respectively, and about 1.8 million in total since the end of May.
The largest increase over the past month showed Germany – about 206.5 thousand, Poland – about 38.9 thousand, France – about 14 thousand, Romania – 11.7 thousand and the Czech Republic – about 9.5 thousand.
According to data of the UNHCR, collected from the national governments, the most refugees with the status of temporary protection in Poland – 1 million 507.89 thousand, given that the country from Ukraine, according to the Polish border service, since the war arrived 8.008 million people, and in the opposite direction went to Ukraine 6.196 million.
They are followed by Germany and the Czech Republic, where the number of registered for temporary protection of refugees from Ukraine was 1 million 21.67 thousand and 462.41 thousand, respectively.
Italy still occupies the fourth place – 164,17 thousand (3,5 thousand more), and Spain closes the third place – 154,46 thousand (5,2 thousand more).
Great Britain follows after that – 146.2 thousand (7.8 thousand increase), and Bulgaria with amount of 146.03 thousand (3.3 thousand growth) – the only country where the number of registered with temporary protection is much more than the number of registered refugees from Ukraine – 51.86 thousand.
There are more than 100 thousand Ukrainians registered for temporary protection in two countries – France and Slovakia: 118.99 thousand (data as of October, 21) and 101.24 thousand (increase by 2,7 thousand).
From 50 thousand to 100 thousand refugees from Ukraine with temporary protection status are also in Romania – 87.89 thousand, Austria – 86.90 thousand (an increase of 2.1 thousand), the Netherlands – 79.25 thousand (data of September 30), Lithuania – 70.67 thousand (an increase of less than 2 thousand, as for other countries below, where the dynamics are not specified)
Switzerland is also among them – 69.61 thousand (an increase of 2.8 thousand), Ireland – 64.28 thousand (an increase of 3.8 thousand), Belgium – 59.53 thousand and Portugal – 52.88 thousand (data of October 3).
Sweden comes next with indicators of 25 to 50 thousand – 48.36 thousand, Finland – 43.81 thousand, Latvia – 42.82 thousand (an increase of 2.1 thousand),
Estonia – 38.73 thousand, Denmark – 34.95 thousand, Hungary – 32.27 thousand, Norway – 32.10 thousand are also in this category.
From 10 to 25 thousand refugees from Ukraine with temporary protection status in Greece – 20.0 thousand, Croatia – 19.13 thousand and Cyprus – 18.29 thousand.
In addition, the UN statistics on refugees from Ukraine received temporary protection status in Slovenia – 8.07 thousand, Montenegro – 6.96 thousand, Luxembourg – 6.76 thousand, Iceland – 1.77 thousand, Malta – 1.54 thousand, Serbia and Kosovo – 1.09 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.36 thousand.
The UN also indicates countries with registered refugees from Ukraine, but no data on their status: Turkey (data of May 19) – 145 thousand, Moldova – 96.65 thousand, Georgia – 25.20 thousand, North Macedonia – 6.39 thousand, Azerbaijan – 3.94 thousand, Albania – 2.51 thousand, Armenia – 0.36 thousand and Bosnia and Herzegovina – 0.13 thousand.
The UN separately indicates Russia and Belarus, where the Ukrainian border was crossed by 2 million 852.4 thousand and 16.71 thousand people, respectively, but since October 3, the data for Russia are no longer updated, while for Belarus they are even older. According to the UN, the Russian Federation recorded all who crossed the border, while 16.43 thousand – in Belarus. There are no data on their status, as well as data on the Ukrainian border crossing in the opposite direction.
According to the UNHCR data as of November 22, a total of 15.592 million people left Ukraine since the beginning of the war (not counting the flow of people into the country), of which 7.584 million left for Poland, 2.852 million for Russia (data of October 3), 1.782 million for Hungary, 1.557 million for Romania, 953.9 thousand for Slovakia, 697.9 thousand for Moldova and 16.7 thousand for Belarus.
At the same time, according to the UN, from February 28 to November 22, 7.939 million people entered Ukraine (excluding Hungary, Russia and Belarus).
“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, almost a third of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes. To date, this is one of the largest displacement crises in the world. In Ukraine, some 6.5 million people were internally displaced as of Oct. 27 as a result of the war,” indicates UNHCR, which increased its estimate of internally displaced people by 0.3 million.
UNHCR indicates that by mid-2021, there were only 53,47,000 Ukrainian refugees worldwide seeking appropriate status, including 36,49,000 in Europe.
The Ukrainian diaspora in the world as of mid-2020 was estimated by UNHCR at 6.1 million, including 5 million in Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that granting the status of EU candidate countries to Ukraine and Moldova is a political signal in these circumstances, the entry itself will drag on for years.
“With regard to Moldova and Ukraine, it is quite clear that this (the decision of the European Candidates’ Status Council) is contextual. Yes, this is a political signal. I fully recognize this. And I said quite frankly today that it will take time (… ) that it will last for years,” Macron said Thursday evening at a press conference in Brussels after the decision of the European Council to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.
According to him, this decision is justified by the fact that we are talking about the neighboring environment of the European Union, which needs to be stabilized. Today, the “geopolitical response” in the context of hostilities is to provide such a perspective to these countries, the French president believes.
“Is this a good geopolitical prospect in the long run? I will answer you sincerely (…): no,” Macron continued, referring to the “fatigue phenomenon” of joining the European Union, which is a complex and time-consuming process. “The road is long,” he said.
That is why, the president explained, he proposed the initiative of the “European political community”, which he considers the right answer, in order to “stabilize the neighborhood” of the EU, offering close cooperation to European countries that are not members of the European Union, having different standards and situations, but sharing common values. .
And this is just being discussed at this EU summit, Macron said. “We need to build something: we can cooperate in terms of defense, geopolitics, energy, infrastructure, projects for the movement of people – a lot of specific things that will make it possible to change the lives of citizens (…) and build the wider geopolitical Europe that we need” – said the head of the French state.
But at the moment, Macron believes, “after NATO said “no” to Ukraine’s accession for good reasons, we would make a political mistake and leave a void if we didn’t reach out to Ukraine and Moldova.” And this justifies the recognition of the status of candidates for these two countries, the French president explained.
The European Parliament called on the leaders of the European Union, who will gather in Brussels on Thursday for a meeting of the European Council, to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate member of the European Union.
The corresponding resolution was voted on Thursday in Brussels in the framework of the plenary session of the European Parliament. “For” – 529, “against” – 45, with 14 abstentions.
“The European Parliament calls on the Heads of State and Government, who will meet within the Council of Europe on June 23 and 24, to immediately grant the status of EU candidate members to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as well as to grant the same status to Georgia after its government fulfills the priorities indicated by the European Commission” , the resolution says.
At the same time, the European Parliament stressed that the heads of state and government “should fulfill their historical responsibility and give clear political signals” confirming their European perspective.
The resolution notes that in the context of “Russia’s brutal aggressive war against Ukraine, this step will be equated with a demonstration of leadership, determination and foresight.” MEPs point out that there is “no fast track for EU membership and that accession remains a merit-based and structured process that requires the fulfillment of EU membership criteria and depends on the effective implementation of reforms.”
The status of a candidate member of the European Union will give impetus to a new trajectory of Ukraine’s GDP growth and a positive signal to investors, Andriy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC), believes.
“The EU candidate status will kick-start a new GDP growth trajectory, while at the same time providing huge morale for post-war economic transformation and reform implementation. Such a move sends a positive signal to investors that Ukraine is moving in the right direction,” he said in a comment to the agency. Interfax-Ukraine.
“There is no future for transparent business in Russia. At the same time, companies will see Ukraine as a priority for post-war investment,” Gunder said.
He also expressed confidence that with a positive decision on such a status by the EU members, Ukraine will make every effort to implement all the necessary reforms as soon as possible. In particular, to introduce real and effective judicial reform, the rule of law, fair justice and the establishment of a level playing field for business.
“We will see a comprehensive approach to creating a strong state and a competitive economy,” Andrei Gunder stressed.
“The message on the status of Ukraine’s candidate for membership in the European Union is clear – Ukraine is returning home. Ukraine is returning to the European family of peoples, the values it shares, and, once and for all, is moving away from the yoke of Russia’s cruel suffocation,” he said.
Acceleration of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union by approximating national legislation in the field of competition, customs, healthcare, protection of intellectual property rights, media, etc. to EU legislation is one of the key priorities for member companies of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine for the post-war economic recovery of Ukraine, added the ACC President.
The number of refugees from Ukraine registered for temporary protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe stood at 3.207 million as of June 16, 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on its website.
Compared to the June 1 data, the increase was almost 0.5 million, including 0.2 million in the last week, significantly contributed by data updates in Germany, France and the UK.
According to UNHCR data collected from national governments, the largest number of refugees with temporary protection status in Poland is 1 million 169.5 thousand, while 4,166 arrived in the country from Ukraine, according to the Polish border service, from the beginning of the war to June 18 million people, and 2.195 million went to Ukraine in the opposite direction.
Following are Germany and the Czech Republic, where the number of refugees registered for temporary protection from Ukraine amounted to 641.39 thousand and 373.82 thousand, respectively.
The UN, referring to government data, indicates that in total in Germany, where Ukrainians are allowed to stay without registration until the end of August, 780,000 refugees from Ukraine were recorded. Based on the data presented, a significant proportion of them have not yet applied for temporary protection status in that country.
In the Czech Republic, the situation, according to UN information, is different: almost all arrivals applied for protection status – 373.82 thousand out of 373.97 thousand.
In the vast majority of other countries, the picture is similar to the Czech Republic: the statistics of registered refugees is completely or almost equal to the statistics of those who applied for protection status, which is probably due to the peculiarity of their registration. An exception, similar to Germany, is only Romania – 37.83 thousand with the status of 90.3 thousand refugees registered in the country, Estonia – 27.49 thousand out of 42.26 thousand and Italy – 97.31 thousand out of 129 .62 thousand
In addition to Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy, more than 50 thousand refugees from Ukraine have also registered for the status of temporary protection in Spain – 119.74 thousand, France – 87.97 thousand, Slovakia – 78.11 thousand (out of 270 thousand). net inflow across the border since the beginning of the war), Austria – 71.83 thousand, Great Britain – 70.5 thousand, the Netherlands – 64.48 thousand and Switzerland – 55.92 thousand.
At the same time, in Lithuania, the number of refugees with temporary protection status decreased from 53.89 thousand to 46.55 thousand over the week.
Next come Belgium – 46.85 thousand, Portugal – 42.15 thousand, Sweden – 38.05 thousand, Ireland – 36.91, Denmark – 28.29 thousand, Latvia – 26.8 thousand and Finland – 26.75 thousand, as well as the above-mentioned Romania and Estonia.
From 10 to 25 thousand refugees from Ukraine with the status of temporary protection in Hungary – 24.45 thousand, Norway – 18.51 thousand, Greece – 14.89 thousand, Croatia – 14.26 thousand and Cyprus – 13 .05 thousand
In addition, the UN statistics on those who received the status of temporary protection include Ukrainian refugees in Slovenia – 7.1 thousand, Luxembourg – 5.25 thousand, Montenegro – 3.98 thousand, Iceland – 0.9 thousand, Malta – 0 .92 thousand, in Serbia and Kosovo – 0.75 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.22 thousand.
In addition, the table contains data from Bulgaria, possibly entered with an error: according to them, 79.2 thousand refugees from Ukraine were recorded there, but 114.88 thousand received protection status.
The UN also indicated the countries in which refugees from Ukraine were recorded, but there is no data on their obtaining status: Moldova – 85.5 thousand, Georgia – 20.39 thousand, Azerbaijan – 4.84 thousand, Albania – 1.53 thousand, North Macedonia – 1.21 thousand, Armenia – 0.49 thousand and Bosnia and Herzegovina – 0.33 thousand.
Turkey, where 145,000 refugees from Ukraine were listed a week ago, is now excluded from the data.
Separately, it is worth mentioning Russia and Belarus, the Ukrainian border with which, respectively, 1 million 230.8 thousand and 16.66 thousand people crossed. The UN information indicates that in the Russian Federation all those who crossed the border were recorded, while in Belarus – 9.01 thousand. There is no data on any status of these people, as well as data on crossing the border of Ukraine in the opposite direction.
