Serbia and Republika Srpska adopted the Law on the Protection of the Serbian Language and Cyrillic Alphabet
On the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and the National Flag, the National Assembly of Serbia and Republika Srpska approved the “Law on the use of the Serbian language in public life and on the protection and preservation of the Cyrillic alphabet.”
This law was initiated by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The adopted law expands the circle of persons who are required to use the Cyrillic alphabet, and this, first of all, applies to companies that have a controlling state stake in public capital, for example, such as the RTS and RTV television channels.
In addition, private companies that decide to use the Cyrillic alphabet in their work will receive tax benefits. The new law also stipulates that cultural and other events that are financed or co-financed with public funds must have a logo written in Cyrillic.
The Ministry of Culture will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the law on the protection of the Serbian language and the Cyrillic alphabet. Fines for violating this law range from 15 thousand (127 euros) to half a million Serbian dinars (4 thousand 255 euros).
The bill also provides for the creation of a Serbian Language Council, whose task will be to monitor and analyze the situation in the use of the Serbian language in public life and implement measures to protect and preserve the Cyrillic alphabet.
The Latin alphabet, along with the traditional Cyrillic alphabet, appeared in the Serbian language after the formation of the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes as part of the ideology of Yugoslavization of the Balkans.
At the same time, which is typical, the Croats and Slovenes, who used the Latin alphabet, did not respond by introducing a parallel Cyrillic script.
Subsequently, the Cyrillic alphabet became the target of attack by anti-Serb forces - it was banned by the Austro-Hungarian occupiers of Bosnia, and it was also banned by the Ustashe leadership of the Independent Croatian Power (NDH).
After the outbreak of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska fundamentally began to use exclusively the Cyrillic alphabet.
At the same time, in Serbia itself, according to a 2014 study, 47% of the population prefers the Latin alphabet in everyday life, which forced the country’s leadership to resort to measures to protect their native language (in fact, the Serbian language is practically no different from Croatian, Bosniak and Montenegrin , with the exception of some pronunciation norms, regionalisms and alphabet).
The Serbian Orthodox Church also uses the Cyrillic alphabet exclusively.