September 26, 2017

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Newsroom, 26.09.2017, 13:40

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)