State Language Protection Commissioner Olena Ivanovska addressed the 23rd Annual Conference of the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL) online. The conference is taking place on 21–23 October in Florence, Italy.
This year’s conference, hosted by one of Europe’s oldest language institutions, the Accademia della Crusca, focuses on the role of the media in the use of European languages. It brought together heads of national language institutions, representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament, linguists, and media experts to discuss the impact of traditional and digital media and artificial intelligence on language standards, multilingualism, and linguistic diversity in Europe.
During the session “Media, Multilingualism and Minorities,” Olena Ivanovska presented a paper entitled “The Use of the State Language in the Media in Ukraine: Between the Priority of the State Language and a Multilingual Reality.”
The Commissioner stressed that Ukraine’s experience of language policy must be viewed in the context of Russian aggression and European integration, noting that language and the media have been used for decades as instruments of political and informational influence.
“For Ukraine, the issue of the state language in the media is not a matter of ‘language protectionism,’ let alone ‘oppression.’ It is a cornerstone of national survival, a matter of decolonising public consciousness and directly countering the Kremlin’s totalitarian ideological expansion,” Olena Ivanovska said.
Particular attention in her address was devoted to the transformation of Ukraine’s media landscape. According to the Commissioner, the gradual introduction of language quotas has contributed to a significant increase in the presence of Ukrainian and to the development of national media content. According to monitoring data from the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, Ukrainian-language songs currently account for 58–61% of songs played on the radio, compared with the statutory quota of 40%.
Olena Ivanovska also highlighted the challenges posed by the digital environment, the protection of Ukraine’s information space from Russian propaganda, and the need to ensure linguistic diversity and the rights of Ukraine’s national minorities (communities) and Indigenous Peoples.
“Ukraine’s experience demonstrates to the world that protecting one’s language is a basic matter of national security hygiene. The state language is the principal instrument of civic solidarity and social cohesion. Ukraine is already a full-fledged part of the European information space, defending our shared frontiers of freedom of expression,” Olena Ivanovska concluded.
The Secretariat of the State Language Protection Commissioner has been a member of EFNIL since 2022.