Poroshenko says he will sign bill on language quotas on Ukrainian TV
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said he will sign the bill introducing quotas for the use of the Ukrainian language on television, which was passed by parliament on Tuesday.
"There should be the Ukrainian language on Ukrainian TV! P.S.: Have I made it clear that I will sign the bill?" the president wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
He recalled that he had several times publicly drawn the attention of owners and managers of TV channels to the unacceptably low share of the Ukrainian language on air. "At some channels it is at the level of 15%! Gentlemen, have you forgotten the name of your country?" the president said.
Poroshenko added that he had urged the television industry to solve this problem by themselves, but its representatives didn't heed to his appeal. "Well, everything will be settled by the law. We've taken into account the positive experience of the radio. We also guarantee the rights of non-native speakers. The share of Russian and other languages on the air of regional and local channels has been put at 40%. We took into account the Crimean Tatar language as well," he said.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada passed a bill on Tuesday envisaging the mandatory 75% quota for Ukrainian-language content in television and radio programs. Ukrainian channels are given a year and four months to switch to the Ukrainian language of broadcasting.
