Radio România Internațional

Tag: education law in Ukraine

  • Romania’s foreign minister travels to Cernauti

    Romania’s foreign minister travels to Cernauti

    Romania’s foreign minister Teodor Melescanu proposed in Cernauti, western Ukraine, that Romania and Ukraine draft a joint document on the application of the Ukrainian education law that affects the right to education in their language for the members of the Romanian community in Ukraine, a community of almost half a million people. Melescanu says article 7 of the new law has a negative impact on education in the Romanian language:



    “Romania maintains its position that article 7 of the education law, in the form in which it was adopted, has a negative impact on the right to education in the language of the Romanian minority and of those who have Romanian as a mother tongue. I discussed with Pavlo Klimkin about the opinion given by the Venice Commission on article 7 and the role played by the secondary legislation of these issues so that we find a solution together.”



    The proposal has been accepted by Melescanu’s counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin, who says no one wants to Ukrainianise the Romanian ethnic community, given Ukraine’s European Union aspirations, which imply respect for the right of ethnic minorities. Teodor Melescanu has said the 2018 budget will earmark funds for the opening of two border crossing points in order to reduce waiting time on the border with Ukraine. Teodor Melescanu:



    “I have discussed with Mr. Klimkin and the finance ministry will earmark in this year’s budget the necessary funds for the opening of two border checkpoints. I would like to point out that, as far as the Romanian side is concerned, these checkpoints are ready, and that we are only waiting for them to be finalised by the other side sometime this year. Moreover, we have also discussed the possibility to open crossing points available exclusively for pedestrians, unhindered by the large flow of cars and trucks, that would allow people to enter into a direct relationship.”



    Talks were held in Cernauti between the education ministers from Romania and Ukraine, Liviu Pop and Lilia Grinevich respectively. Also, the Romanian delegation attended the opening of a school and visited the Mihai Eminescu High School, both of which provide teaching in Romanian. Romania’s General Consulate held a meeting with members of the Romanian ethnic community in the region and with Romania’s general consul in Cernauti, Eleonora Moldovan. The two ministers also met representatives of Romanian associations in Cernauti and laid flowers at the memorials in honour of the poets Mihai Eminescu and Taras Shevchenko. (Translated by C. Mateescu)

  • October 31, 2017

    October 31, 2017

    MOTION — The National Liberal Party, the People’s Movement Party and the Save Romania Union in opposition today filed a simple motion in the Senate against Finance Minister Ionut Misa. The opposition criticizes the Government’s fiscal measures, saying they will negatively impact the economy and all social classes. The Government wants to transfer the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees and to introduce the so-called “employment insurance tax” for employers. Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said this new contribution will increase taxation. In another development today, the Senate passed a draft law on adopting the Government’s emergency decree on the spaced-out payment of VAT. The plenary session paid heed to a report of the Senate’s Budget and Finance Committee, which modified the text of the decree, stipulating the measure applies only for insolvent companies or any companies with outstanding VAT-related debts at the end of 2017. The draft law will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body.



    DIGITIZATION — The future of Europe will be digital or “there won’t be one”, and Romania will hold the upper hand in this context due to its very active network of startups, European Commissioner for Economy and the Digital Society, Mariya Gabriel, said today in Bucharest. According to the EU official, Southeastern Europe will have a great impact on the development of this field. Mariya Gabriel is attending a conference hosted by Bucharest titled “Digital Romania International Forum — Startups in 4.0 Industries”. The forum brings together leaders from the industry, entrepreneurs, investors, European decision-makers, authorities and academia with a view to finding solutions for Romania to contribute and benefit from the digitization of the industry, the economy and society at EU level. According to an analysis of the PwC audit and consultancy group, Romania has a very high development potential in the IT sector, despite ranking last at EU level as regards the degree of digitization.



    UKRAINE — Venice Commission experts are in Kiev for the next couple of days to examine the tensions prompted by the adoption of the new education law in this country. Attending the meeting with ethnic minorities will also be a delegation of Romanian nationals from the region of Cernauti. According to minority representatives, the new education law severely restricts the minorities’ rights to education in their native language. Recently, representatives of the Romanian community in Ukraine have referred the matter to the Venice Commission, demanding the new education law be examined to check its compliance with Ukraine’s commitments before the Council of Europe to safeguard the rights of national minorities to education in their own languages. Bucharest has repeatedly criticized the law.



    INVESTIGATION — A United States judge has warranted the house arrest of Paul Manafort, former campaign chairman to Donald Trump. Paul Manafort and his associate have been indicted on 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States, failure to disclose overseas bank accounts and money laundering. These are the first accusations stemming from the investigation into Russia’s alleged ingressions into Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidential election of 2016, whose purpose was to swing the vote to Trump’s favour. Manafort ran Trump’s campaign in June-August 2016, when he was forced to step down in light of revelations that he secretly lobbied for a pro-Russian party in Ukraine in exchange for millions of dollars. The indictment however makes no reference to Donald Trump’s election campaign nor any other suggestion linked with a secret understanding between Donald Trump’s campaign staff and Russian authorities that might have illegally influenced the result of the vote. Trump denied accusations regarding his purported involvement with Russian officials and has labeled the investigation as “a witch hunt”.



    FOOTBALL — Romania’s football vice-champions FCSB on Thursday are playing Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel at home in the fourth round of the Europa League main group phase. Two weeks ago, Nicolae Dica’s trainees won 2-1 in Israel. FCSB ranks first in the Group G with 9 points in 3 matches, followed by Lugano of Switzerland, Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic and Hapoel Beer Seva of Israel, each with 3 points. FCSB can secure qualification to the next phase with a draw on Thursday. (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • September 26, 2017

    September 26, 2017

    UKRAINE — The Education Ministers of Romania and Ukraine will hold talks so that the Romanian minority in Ukraine should have access to education in their mother tongue, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu has told Radio Romania. The announcement came after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ratified the controversial education law restricting the rights of national minorities to education in their mother tongue. The law allegedly improves the teaching process and will help the country join the European Union. Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece and the Republic of Moldova, all having large groups of ethnics in Ukraine, have criticized the provisions of the law.



    TRADE UNIONS — One of the largest trade union confederations in Romania, Cartel Alfa, is this week staging a series of protests in several cities across the country. The trade union requests all social security taxes to no longer be passed onto employees and wants to start negotiations over signing collective employment agreements at all levels. Trade unionists say transferring social security contributions to the employees will reduce their net income, liquidate the unemployment fund and lower contributions to the pension fund. The first protests were staged on Monday in several cities. According to Cartel Alfa, a large protest will be staged in Bucharest on October 4.



    LAW ENFORCEMENT — Three Romanian police officers are taking part in an international effort to strengthen and develop the intervention capacity of the local law enforcement authorities in Georgia and Cyprus. Two officers are participating in the EU mission to Georgia and another one is part of the UN mission to Cyprus. The Romanian Police is carrying out crime prevention and combating activities jointly with the local authorities, providing humanitarian aid and taking part in missions aimed at keeping public order. So far 37 Romanian police officers are involved in 10 international missions on four continents under the coordination of the EU, the UN and the OSCE. The first mission they ever took part in was the one in Kosovo in 1998.



    ROMANIANS IN THE UK — Romanians living and working in the UK will preserve their rights and liberties, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu today told Radio Romania. Minister Melescanu discussed this topic with the the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson during the latter’s visit to Bucharest on Monday. The two officials also discussed about the new registry system for people who want to travel to the UK, which Minister Melescanu believes should not jeopardize the rights of people living, working or studying in the United Kingdom. In turn, Boris Johnson told AGERPRES news agency that Romanians in the UK should not be concerned about their future after Brexit, as they are valuable members of British society. Boris Johnson went on to say that the UK wants to keep the nearly half a million Romanians living in this country, wants to make them feel safe and to ensure them that their rights are being protected.



    TENNIS –WTA no. 2 Simona Halep today lost to Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-2, 6-1, in second round of the Wuhan tournament in China, totalling 2.6 million dollars in prize money. Seeded second in the main draw, Simona Halep played last year’s semi-finals. Also today Sorana Cirstea, 46 WTA, lost 6-3, 6-3 to Qiang Wang of China, WTA no. 55.



    FOOTBALL — Romania’s only representative in European football competitions, FCSB, on Thursday is playing Lugano of Switzerland away from home in Europa League. In the first fixture of Group G, two weeks ago, Steaua won 3-nil against Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic at home. In the other Group game, Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel defeated Lugano 2-1. FCSB tops the group tables with three points, followed by Hapoel. (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • September 21, 2017 UPDATE

    September 21, 2017 UPDATE

    UKRAINE – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday said he cancelled his visit to Ukraine slated for October, after the Ukrainian Parliament passed the new education law. The president decribes the law as going against the mutual good intentions and severely limiting the access of national minorities to education in their mother tongue. President Iohannis also cancelled his meeting with the Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy, which would have taken place at the end of this month in Bucharest. On Wednesday, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest passed a joint declaration on Ukraines new education law saying it “drastically limits the right to education in their mother tongue for ethnic Romanians in Ukraine.



    DAMAGES – The government decided to provide some 8 million euros to compensate for the damage caused by the extreme weather in western Romania. According to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, Wednesdays rainfalls and strong wind caused damages in the capital Bucharest and 38 towns and villages in 15 other counties. 3 people were also killed. More than 4,000 troops from the armys fire service and 1,000 pieces of equipment were on duty in the last 24 hours to help limit and eliminate the effects of bad weather, including evacuating the water from flooded homes and courtyards and removing uprooted trees. Tens of roofs were partly or completely damaged. Road travel was temporarily disrupted.



    CETA – Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu and Canadian Ambassador to Bucharest Kevin Hamilton hailed the temporary enactment on September 21 of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union and Canada. The two officials expressed confidence that the new agreement would substantially boost two-way trade and mutual investment. According to Ambassador Hamilton, CETA will create new large-scale opportunities both for EU Member States and for Canada. Apart from cutting tariffs for exports, the agreement will also step up the export of services and investments between Canada and Romania and will result in the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Minister Negrescu praised the successful implementation of the first phase for liberalizing visas for Romanian citizens travelling to Canada as of May 1 and highlighted the importance of the second phase, meaning completely lifting visas starting December 1, 2017.



    WEF – Universities, high schools and foreign language centers from all over the world will present their offers in Romania during the 27th edition of World Education Fair, which starts on Friday. The fair will be held in Timisoara, Bucharest, Iasi, Galati and Constanta. In the past 9 years, some 10,000 Romanian students chose to study abroad taking up offers presented in the fair.



    INVICTUS – The team of Romanian military injured in operations left for Toronto, Canada, on Thursday to take part in the Invictus Games. The 15 members of the team will compete in six individual sports disciplines: archery, athletics, indoor rowing, weightlifting, cycling and swimming.



    SHOPPING – Romanians spent some 2,5 billion euros on online shopping in 2017, reads a market analysis released on Thursday. According to the study, the average price of an online purchase stood at 60 euros. Over 60% of Romanian Internet users prefer to shop online, the analysis also shows.



    TENNIS –Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea, world no. 52, defeated the American player Nicole Gibb to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Seoul worth almost 227,000 dollars. Cirstea will next face Thailands Luksika Kumkhum for a place in the semifinals. Cirstea will also play the doubles semifinals together with Latvias Jelena Ostapenko, where they will face the British-Australian pair Katy Dunne and Priscilla Hon. (Translated by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)

  • September 15, 2017

    September 15, 2017

    EXPLOSION — The British Police is treating today’s explosion in a metro station in London as an act of terrorism. British security forces, the emergency medical service and the fire squad were called up after a small explosion was reported in one of the cars, causing burn injuries to several people. Great Britain this year was the target of four major terrorist attacks, which killed 36 people.



    MILITARY — Three Romanian soldiers were wounded today in Afghanistan during a mission in the area of responsibility. Two of them are stable and the third is in critical condition. The military were travelling in a convoy in Kandahar, when a booby-trapped vehicle collided with their armored vehicle. The military were deployed in Afghanistan in August. In 2017 the Romanian Army is contributing 620 military to the NATO Resolute Support operation in Afghanistan, while another 300 soldiers are being deployed in operations led by NATO, the EU, the UN and the OSCE in other regions. 28 Romanian soldiers died and another 18- were wounded in external missions.



    EXCISE DUTY ON FUEL — The excise duty on fuel went up on Friday by 3,5 eurocents / liter, and is expected to increase by the same amount starting October 1. Aimed at bringing in more revenues to the state budget, the measure was taken after the Government eliminated the 7 eurocents extra excise duty on fuel early this year. The introduction of the additional excise is harshly criticized by transporters, who warn that its effects will impact the entire economy.



    UKRAINE — Three MPs in the Ukrainian Parliament, including Romanian Grigore Timis, have called on President Petro Poroshenko not to ratify the new education law. Passed earlier this month, the law severely restricts the rights of national minorities to education in their mother tongue. The three MPs say Ukraine would violate bilateral agreements with their countries if the law is passed. On Thursday, Foreign Ministers of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece addressed a joint letter to their Ukrainian counterpart, calling for the amendment of the draft law.



    NORTH KOREA — The UN Security Council is today meeting in an emergency session at the request of the United States and Japan to address the latest North-Korean missile test. According to South-Korean officials, a missile was launched close to Pyongyang and flew over 3,700 kilometers. The Japanese Government has condemned what it has described “a dangerous provocative action”. The US has urged China and Russia to exert pressure on North Korea. China is the largest oil provider to North Korea, while Russia employs a large number of North Koreans, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. The recently adopted UN sanctions should be the starting point of action against North Korea, the US official went on to say.



    FOOTBALL — Romanian football club FSCB won 3-nil against Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic in the first game of the Europa League group phase. In the other group fixture, Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel edged out 2-1 Lugano of Switzerland on home turf. In another move, the Romanian Football Federation on Thursday terminated the contract of Romanian national team coach German Christoph Daum, after the poor qualification campaign in the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. With 9 points in 8 games, Romania now holds zero chances of qualifying, ranking 4th after Poland, Denmark and Montenegro.



    TENNIS — Dragos Dima is today playing Gerald Melzer in the first game of the Davis Cup match pitting Romania against Austria. Hosted by Wels in Austria, the match is counting towards the first round of the playoffs for Group 1 in the Europe-Africa zone. In the second match of the game, Domonic Thiem, the world’s no. 7, is playing Bogdan Borza. On Saturday, Horia Tecau and Nicolae Frunza are playing Dominic Thiem and Philipp Oswald. On Sunday, Dominic Thiem is playing Dragos Dima, while Gerald Melzer will take on Bogdan Borza. Romania leads 3-2 in official games against Austria. (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • September 8, 2017

    September 8, 2017

    VISIT — EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu on Friday is meeting Transport Minister Razvan Cuc in Bucharest as part of her visit to Romania. The two will tackle the EU funds allotted to road and rail infrastructure in Romania. On Thursday, Commissioner Cretu said transportation is a field of concern for the Commission.



    UKRAINE — Minister for Romanians Worldwide, Andreea Pastarnac, has called a meeting with the Ukrainian ambassador to Bucharest to discuss the new education law passed in Ukraine. According to a ministry release, Romania is concerned over the recent changes in the education system, which provide for exclusively Ukrainian-language teaching in high-schools and universities, while restricting teaching in the mother tongue to kindergartens and elementary schools. Over half a million Romanians in Ukraine will be affected by the new law. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the “delicate situation” in Ukraine. The Ministry recalls that, according to the provisions of the Framework Convention on protecting national minorities, a state commits to granting ethnic minorities the possibility to become literate in their mother tongue.



    MILITARY DRILL — The Resolute Castle 17 military drill is coming to an end today. Kicked off in April, the drill brought together some 450 Romanian soldiers. Training and implementing infrastructure projects, jointly with US military of the 926th Engineer Brigade of the US Terrestrial Forces, as well as other units of the US army and naval forces, the US national guard and US ground forces put on reserve, in addition to military engineers from the UK, were the highlights of the exercise. Held for the third year in a row, the drill was aimed at increasing the operability of military and crisis-response capabilities, developing inter-operability between the engineer divisions of the Romanian, American and British armies, as well as improving training facilities and infrastructure. Projects carried out during the Resolute Castle 17 drill are part of the European Reassurance Initiative program.



    BORDER SECURITY — Romania will strengthen its borders, the Romanian Police has announced, one year since the first measures to consolidate our country’s border with Serbia were implemented in the wake of a wave of immigrants trying to illegally cross into our country. The measures included using daytime and night-time monitoring equipment at full capacity, enhancing technical equipment and supplementing staff. In the first seven months of the year, the Romanian border police identified as many as three thousand foreign citizens trying to illegally cross the border. In most of the cases the migrants were trying to cross into Romania in route to Hungary and Western Europe. Several groups of migrants tried to forcefully cross the border from Bulgaria and from the Black Sea, the Border Police reports.



    MOLDOVA — Romania remains Moldova’s top trade partner, says the National Bureau for Statistics in Chisinau. According to data collected in the first seven months of the year, two-way trade between Romania and the Republic of Moldova stood at 660 million dollars. Moldova’s main foreign market remains the EU, accounting for 64% of its exports.



    ENERGY — Serbian Energy Minister, Aleksandar Antic, said his country was interested in striking a deal with Romania in the field of natural gas. Attending an energy forum in Alexandroupoli, Greece, Minister Antic said Romania had good results in exploring the natural gas pockets in the Black Sea. Moreover, the Serbian official said he would attend the meeting of Energy Ministers from Central and South-eastern Europe hosted by Bucharest over September 28-29.



    TENNIS — Romanian Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands will play Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez of Spain in the men’s doubles final at the US Open. In the semis Tecau and Rojer, seeded 12 in the competition, defeated first-seeds Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5. Horia Tecau has also qualified to the mixed doubles final alongside CoCo Vandeweghe of the US, where the two will play Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Jamie Murray of Great Britain. (Translated by Vlad Palcu)