January 11, 2018 UPDATE
Romanian Foreign Minister meets Ukrainian counterpart, Bulgarian presidency of the EU officially inaugurated in Sofia
Newsroom, 11.01.2018, 19:40
Kiev – The Romanian Foreign Minister, Teodor Melescanu, and his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin, on Thursday agreed in Cernăuţi (western Ukraine) on starting negotiations for the conclusion of a protocol on the implementation of the new education law in Ukraine, which should guarantee the right of the members of the Romanian community to education in their mother tongue. Minister Meleşcanu said that Romania would continue to be concerned until a realistic solution is worked out, given that the law has a negative impact on the right to education of the Romanian minority. In another development, the Romanian government intends to grant scholarships to the Romanian students in Ukraine with extraordinary results in school, minister Meleşcanu announced at the ceremony held upon the inauguration of a Romanian school in the village of Iordăneşti, Cernăuţi region. He said that Romania would never forget the Romanian-speaking citizens and teachers will have the opportunity to re-train in Romania. Bucharest is going to initiate such an action. The event was also attended by the Romanian and Ukrainian education ministers. We recall that the version of the education law passed by the Ukrainian Parliament and promulgated by president Petro Poroshenko in September 2017 severely limited the access of ethnic minorities to education in their mother tongue. The Romanian community in Ukraine numbers almost half a million people.
Sofia — The Bulgarian presidency of the EU was officially inaugurated Thursday in Sofia, as on January 1, Bulgaria took over the EU’s rotating presidency. Attending the ceremony were the president of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Council Donald Tusk and the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. The 4 priorities of the Bulgarian presidency of the EU are: youth and the future of Europe, European integration of the western Balkans, security and fighting illegal migration and the digital market. Bulgaria’s program will unfold under the motto “Unity makes Strength”. The timetable of the Bulgarian presidency includes more than 300 events. Bulgaria will host tens of high-level meetings, official and ministerial meetings. Among them, the European summit devoted to the European integration of the western Balkans countries. Romania will hold the EU’s rotating presidency in the first half of 2019.
Defense — The Romanian defense minister Mihai Fifor will participate on Friday, at the defense ministry’s headquarters, in the ceremony for singing the purchase contract of almost 230 Piranha V infantry fighting vehicles. According to a Defense Ministry communiqué the wheeled fighting vehicles currently held by the Romanian army are outdated both from a technological point of view and from that of the technical and tactical characteristics. On November 29, the Romanian government passed a decision on the purchase of 8×8 armored transporters from the company General Dynamics European Land Systems – Mowag GmbH, the communiqué also shows.
Corruption — The National Anti-Corruption Directorate took legal action against the former president of the Committee for the Accreditation of Hospitals in Romania, Dan Romulus Serban. Prosecutors accuse him of abuse of office in three cases, related to the illegal granting of services contracts. The damage is estimated at more than 2.8 million Euros. Two former directors of the aforementioned institution have also been prosecuted. (news update translated by Lacramioara Simion)
