On May 30, 2026, Deputy Director of the Razumkov Centre Sociological Service M. Mishchenko and Razumkov Centre Research Fellow on Legal Issues, retired judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine P. Stetsiuk took part (online) in the International Scientific and Artistic Event "The Future Belongs to Freedom — It Speaks Ukrainian!" (Bad-Ems, Germany). It was deeply symbolic that the event was held in the premises of the local Vier-Türme-Haus palace, where exactly 150 years ago the notorious Ems Decree was signed by the Russian Tsar Alexander II. By contrast, the current event was intended to highlight the process of formation and development of the Ukrainian culture in general and the Ukrainian language in particular, their role in preserving the identity of the Ukrainian people, revival and development of Ukraine as a sovereign democratic state, and irreversibility of its European path. The event was organized by the Ukrainian Students Association Cologne (USAC) (led by Uliana Derkach) together with a number of other organizations in cooperation with the Consulate General of Ukraine in Frankfurt am Main, the Center for Civil Liberties and Razumkov Centre.
The participants of the International Scientific and Artistic Event “The Future Belongs to Freedom — It Speaks Ukrainian!” were welcomed by the Bad Ems Mayor Frank Ackermann, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Mainz Günter Jertz, and Acting Head of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Frankfurt am Main Taras Zholubak. The event was attended by representatives of the academia, political circles and civil society from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Ukraine. The participants of the event were addressed online by Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN Andriy Melnyk, Nobel Peace Prize holder Oleksandra Matviychuk, Deputy State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Rostyslav Ogryzko, Member of the European Parliament Michael Haller, President of the Ukrainian PEN Club Volodymyr Yermolenko. Academic reports were delivered by the Vienna University Institute of Slavic Studies Director Michael Moser, Honorary Professor of the Cologne University Gerhard Simon, Prof. Till Mayer, as well as Razumkov Center members Mykhailo Mishchenko and Petro Stetsiuk. The event was moderated by Professor Olexiy Khabyuk of the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences. The musical part of the programme included pieces by Maksym Berezovsky, Mykola Lysenko, Viktor Kosenko and Vasyl Barvinsky performed by violinist Olga Hlibovych, cellist Emanuel Matz and piano player Yaromyr Bozhenko.
In their report “Constitutional and Legal Entrenchment of Ukrainian as the State Language and Language Trends in Ukraine”, Deputy Director of the Razumkov Centre Sociological Service Mykhailo Mishchenko and Razumkov Centre Research Fellow on Legal Issues, retired judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Petro Stetsiuk drew the attention of the participants of the International Scientific and Artistic Event “The Future Belongs to Freedom — It Speaks Ukrainian!” to the constitutional and legal status of the Ukrainian language, the problems of its implementation and possible prospects for improvement in the context of irreversibility of Ukraine’s European path. Part of the report was devoted to the language trends in Ukraine on the basis of sociological surveys conducted by Razumkov Centre over the past decades.
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