February 24, 2014 UPDATE
Click for a roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 24.02.2014, 19:42
The foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group, which comprises the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, together with their counterparts from Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, pleaded for financial support for Ukraine, in a meeting held in Budapest on Monday. The participants said they supported Ukraine’s sovereignty and integrity, and called on Kiev to respect the rights of national minorities. The Romanian foreign Minister, Titus Corlatean, said Bucharest was monitoring changes in the relevant legislation, after the Ukrainian Parliament abrogated a law under which a minority language could be used in local public administration in areas where at least 10% of the people are native speakers of that language. Previously, the Romanian foreign ministry said Ukraine must maintain the protection of its national minorities, if it is to continue on its European path. The Romanian PM, Victor Ponta, has expressed his hope that the law will be replaced with a European regulation, and reiterated that the rights of the Romanian minority in Ukraine is important for Bucharest. The Romanian community in Ukraine is about half a million people.
The future of the ruling coalition in Romania might be decided on Tuesday, when the Liberals are to announce whether they leave the government headed by the Social-Democrat Victor Ponta. On Monday, the Liberal senior vice-president, Klaus Iohannis, said the Social Liberal Union only existed on paper. The disagreements between the Social Democrats and the Liberals started early this month, when the Liberals nominated Iohannis for the Interior Minister and deputy prime minister posts, and the Social Democrats, together with the Conservatives and the National Union for the Progress of Romania, established within the ruling coalition a Social-Democratic Union.
The Romanian Senate speaker, Crin Antonescu, while on an official visit to Vienna on Monday, emphasised the excellent Romanian-Austrian political, economic and cultural relations. He mentioned the sizeable Austrian investments in Romania and their positive impact on Romanian jobs and economy. Antonescu had meetings with the speakers of the two chambers of the Austrian Parliament, Michael Lampel si Barbara Prammer.
In March Romania will host a European conference focusing primarily on school dropout, the Romanian Education Minister Remus Pricopie announced on Monday in Brussels. The event, included on the agenda of the Greek presidency of the EU, will also be attended by representatives of non-EU countries.
The elections for Romania’s representatives in the European Parliament will take place on Sunday, May the 25, under a government resolution published on Monday in the Official Journal of Romania. According to a VoteWatch Europe poll, in Romania, which has 32 seats in the EP, the Social Democratic Party, affiliated to the European Socialists, is likely to win 13 seats, the National Liberal Party, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, will get around 10 seats, and the Liberal Democrats and Ethnic Hungarians, both affiliated to the European People’s Party, around 9 seats.
