On Friday, December 8, the Verkhovna Rada approved the bills necessary for the further European integration of Ukraine.
This is stated by RBC.
We are talking about bills regulating the work of anti-corruption department and changes to legislation on the rights of national minorities.
In particular, the Verkhovna Rada adopted bills which the European Commission insisted on:
- Bill No. 10203-1 to expand the staff of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU);
- Bill No. 10262 allows the National Agency on Corruption and Prevention (NACP) to check the property of officials acquired before their appointment;
- Bill No. 10060 provides on strengthening the independence of the SAPO as a body subordinated to the Prosecutor General's Office;
- Bill No. 10288-1 on the protection of the rights of national minorities in certain areas, taking into account the recommendations of the Council of Europe.
The approval of important European integration bills took place on Dec.14, before the EU Summit over Ukraine's membership. The relevant documents have already been signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to media, the adopted bills provide expansion of the NABU, increase in the powers of the NACP, and strengthening of the independence of the SAP (the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's office should become an independent body and receive the status of a legal entity of public law).
Hungary demanded from Ukraine to adopt as soon as possible the law on the protection of the rights of national minorities, accusing Kiev of "infringing the rights of the Hungarian minoryty in Zakarpattia".
"In classes with education in national minority languages, the right to use the language of the respective national minority in the educational process along with the state language is guaranteed. Persons belonging to national minorities of Ukraine whose languages are official languages of the EU and who started receiving general secondary education before September 1, 2018, in the language of the respective national minority have the right to continue receiving such education until the completion of full general secondary education by the rules that existed before the entry into force of the new law. The rights of national minorities do not apply to Russian, the language of the country that was recognized by the Ukrainian Parliament as an aggressor state," - the journalists added in their article.