March 4, 2018

Romanian officials reiterate call on the Ukrainian authorities regarding education law, Commemoration of March 4, 1977 quake

Newsroom, 04.03.2018, 13:59

Kiev — The Romanian Minister for Romanians Abroad, Natalia Intotero, has again called on the Ukraine authorities to modify the article in the Education Law restricting the right of the Romanian community to learn in its mother tongue. The Romanian minority in Ukraine, in the historical regions of Cernăuţi and Transcarpatia (west), is well integrated and should have to right to learn in its language, said Mrs. Intotero, following her visit to the two regions. Almost half a million ethnic Romanians are living in Ukraine, mostly in the eastern Romanian territories annexed in 1940 by the former Soviet Union following an ultimatum. The territories were subsequently taken over by Ukraine as a successor state.

Drills — More than 1,700 Romanian and foreign soldiers will be participating, as of Monday until March 15, in one of the largest multinational drills organized by the Romanian Naval Forces in the southeast region of Dobrogea and in the Black Sea international waters. Spring Storm 18 is based on a unique concept of joint training of the naval, air and ground forces. The drill is part of the plan of NATO immediate assurance measures adopted at the NATO summit held in Warsaw in 2016. The Romanian soldiers will be training alongside soldiers from the US, France and Bulgaria as well as from partner states such as Georgia and Ukraine.

Commemoration — Romania commemorates Sunday 41 years since the devastating earthquake of March 4, 1977. The 7.2 magnitude quake killed 1,579 people, mostly from Bucharest, and caused material damage estimated at the time at 2 billion dollars. 230 thousand residential buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. The quake caused an economic and social crisis which, according to historians, the Communist dictatorship could no longer cope with, until it was toppled in December 1989. Experts warn that hundreds of buildings might collapse in Bucharest in the event of a similar quake.

Handball — Romania’s women’s handball champions CSM Bucharest are today playing on home ground against the Danish team FC Midtjylland, in a main group match of the Champions League. Ahead of this match, the Romanian handballers were ranked 3rd in a group of 6, being outclassed by Gyor of Hungary and Rostov Don of Russia. The first 4 teams in the group will qualify to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, which CSM Bucharest won two years ago, at their first participation in the championship. On Saturday another two Romanian women’s teams played on home ground in the first round of the EHF Cup quarterfinals. HC Zalău defeated the Turkish team Kastamonu Belediyesi 29 — 28, and SCM Craiova lost to Lada Togliatti of Russia 23-25.

Berlin — The members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) voted for the resumption of the “great” government coalition with the Conservatives of chancellor Angela Merkel, the center left party leadership announced on Sunday. After centralization of the results of the postal voting, 66% of the almost half a million members of SPD said YES to the agreement concluded last month by the party leaders with the CDU/CSU grouping – the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and its Bavarian counterpart the Christian Social Union. The vote allows Germany to break an unprecedented political deadlock, more than 5 months after the legislative elections, following which no parliamentary majority could be formed.

Rome — Italians are expected to the polls on Sunday to vote in parliamentary elections. The publication of opinion surveys regarding voting intentions was forbidden in the 2 weeks preceding the elections, although analysts estimate that no party will be able to win the majority. After an election campaign dominated by the issue of migration and youth unemployment, the right wing party of the former PM Silvio Berlusconi is back into the voters’ preferences, being backed by two extremist parties. Next in the voters’ preferences are the populist Five Star Movement and the leftist governing Democratic Party that lost votes due to their weak recovery policy. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)