MAE: Consultations in Bucharest with leaders of Romanian minority in Ukraine on mother-tongue education

 A representative delegation of the leaders of the Romanian minority in Ukraine had a round of consultations, on Thursday, in Bucharest, with the Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs, Dan Neculaescu, at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). During the consultations, shows MAE, "there was a broad exchange of views on the impact of changes in Ukrainian legislation on the rights of persons belonging to the Romanian minority in Ukraine, as well as on effective and sustainable ways to maintain the level of Romanian ethnic rights, primarily the one regarding education in the mother tongue". According to the cited source, Secretary of State Dan Neculaescu made a presentation of the actions undertaken by Romania as a result of the adoption of new legislative regulations in Ukraine, including of the stage of negotiations with a view to agreeing on the Romanian-Ukrainian Bilateral Cooperation Protocol in education, of the Romanian side's efforts aimed at relaunching the activity of the Romanian-Ukrainian Joint Intergovernmental Committee on the protection of the rights of people belonging to national minorities, the MAE's steps to initiate negotiations for the conclusion of a Comprehensive Agreement on the protection of the rights of people belonging to national minorities. At the same time, the Romanian official stressed that the MAE "acted consistently with the Ukrainian side when developments with a negative impact on the rights of Romanian ethnics were reported. Moreover, the Secretary of State also showed that in the bilateral dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities, the Romanian side "constantly reiterated its expectation that Ukraine would offer a comprehensive solution to the problem of the right to education in the mother tongue for ethnic Romanians." The Secretary of State noted the concern of the Romanian minority's representatives with the draft of a new Ukrainian law aimed at regulating the exercise of their identity rights and reiterated the stance on the need for substantial consultation in the adoption process of the normative act. He also referred to the fact that the Romanian side obtained in the dialogue with the Ukrainian side the recognition of the identity between the Romanian language and the so-called "Moldovan language", which must be reflected in the Ukrainian legislation and norms, namely the recognition of the non-existence of the so-called "Moldovan language". Other issues addressed concerned the prospects for the operationalization of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Kiev and its branch in Chernivtsi, as well as the establishment of a consular office in Ismail. The representatives of the Romanian minority underlined the usefulness and propriety of the direct dialogue with the authorities in Bucharest and voiced their support for Romania's efforts to protect the rights of persons belonging to its related minority in Ukraine. The delegation includes leaders of the Romanian associative and academic environment from the Chernivtsi, Odessa and Transcarpathian regions, and, on Thursday, has scheduled meetings with representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Department of Relations with Romanians Abroad, the Department of Romanians Everywhere, the Institute Romanian Cultural and the Ministry of Education. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Cristina Zaharia)