Greater rights for native Romanian speakers in Ukraine
The right of European Union ethnic groups, including Romanians, to use their mother tongue in Ukrainian schools is now guaranteed
Sorin Iordan, 14.10.2026, 13:50
Children of Romanians living in Ukraine will be able to study in their mother tongue in schools across the neighbouring country, after Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed into law a bill passed on Monday by the Parliament in Kyiv that guarantees the right to use the languages of EU minorities in educational institutions.
The new legislation establishes a system of complementary safeguards regarding the language of teaching and the certification of schools where teaching takes place in national minority languages. It also sets out procedures for parental involvement, the preservation of cultural identity, and the continuity of the educational process.
The Embassy of Ukraine in Bucharest announced that the law introduces a new official legal status for national minorities’ educational institutions. Specifically, a school where more than 50% of students study in the respective minority language may acquire this status, which can be reflected in the institution’s official name and founding documents.
Furthermore, subsidies are guaranteed for schools that have classes or groups taught in national minority languages that are also official languages of the European Union, such as Romanian. Educational programmes may include the study of the history, culture, traditions, symbols, and customs of the respective national minority, the diplomatic mission added.
Also, if a public secondary school or high school teaching in the language of a national minority in Ukraine is reorganised or closed down, students at the request of their parents are guaranteed the opportunity to carry on their studies in another school within the same administrative-territorial unit, where teaching is conducted in the respective national minority’s language.
The president of Romania welcomed the promulgation by his Ukrainian counterpart of the amendments regarding the right of national minorities to education in their mother tongue. “The new provisions clarify that the mother tongue may be used in all circumstances, not just during classes,” Nicuşor Dan said.
He promised that efforts would continue, alongside the community and Ukrainian authorities, to ensure that the implementation of the new law gives Romanian children an opportunity to learn in their mother tongue, including at high school level.
This legislative change comes as part of Ukraine’s EU accession process and specifically concerns minorities whose languages are official EU languages, as is the case with the Romanian and Moldovan communities, both of which speak Romanian.
According to the Romanian foreign ministry, ethnic Romanians in Ukraine live mostly in the Chernivtsi region (over 180,000), the Odessa region (approximately 123,000), and the Transcarpathia region (around 32,000). (AMP)
