October 18, 2017 UPDATE
Click here for a round-up of news from Romania and the region
Newsroom, 18.10.2017, 20:10
EDUCATION LAW — The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, held a phone conversation on Wednesday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, on the controversial education law, recently adopted by the Kiev authorities. According to the Presidential Administration in Bucharest, the Romanian President expressed, in firm terms, the discontent about the law, which produces negative effects on the right to education in the native languages of the ethnic minorities in Ukraine, including the Romanian one. The Romanian President said the Kiev authorities should have held consultations with representatives of the national ethnic minorities and of the neighbouring countries. Klaus Iohannis has called on his Ukrainian counterpart to comply with the commitments Ukraine has constantly made to the Romanian side relative to the observance of international norms and standards as regards the protection of the national minorities’ rights. In turn, President Poroshenko gave assurances that the opinion of the Venice Commission on this law will be observed. According to the normative act, the children of the ethnic minorities will be able to study in their languages only in primary education, and afterwards they have to attend classes only in the Ukrainian language. Almost 500,000 ethnic Romanians are living in Ukraine.
ROMANIAN-SPANISH RELATIONS – The Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Melescanu, met in Bucharest on Wednesday with his Spanish counterpart, Alfonso María Dastis. The two ministers discussed about bilateral trade relations and the stage of preparations for the first common session of the Romanian and Spanish governments. Minister Melescanu mentioned the very important contribution of the Romanian community to the economic development of Spain and thanked his counterpart for the Spanish authorities’ support for the integration of the Romanian citizens. On this occasion, the two sides signed an agreement on ways to prevent tax evasion and to eliminate double taxation for incomes. We recall that the over one million Romanians living in Spain make up the largest foreign community in that country.
JUSTICE — Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced on Wednesday that his ministry has finalized the proposal to modify the basic package of legislation regulating justice. He said he would meet on October 26 European Commission First Vice-President Hans Timmermans to discuss the project. Toader called on the Venice Commission to approve the procedure to appoint high-ranking prosecutors. The draft amending the justice laws will be promoted as a parliamentary initiative.
LEGAL NOTIFICATION— The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, announced on Wednesday that he will file a notification to the Constitutional Court, early next week, on a possible conflict between the Government and the Public Ministry, on the issue of government decisions. The talks on the notification of the Constitutional Court emerged after the National Anti-corruption Directorate opened a file involving two former members of the current cabinet, Sevil Shhaideh, former deputy prime minister and Regional Development Minister, and Rovana Plumb, who has been Minister Delegate for European Funds. They tendered their resignations last week, against the backdrop of accusations levelled against them in the file. The National Anti-corruption Directorate claims that in 2013, two plots of land close to the Danube riverbed were illegally transferred, by a government decision, from state property to property of the Teleorman County, in the south, and into the administration of the Teleorman County Council. Back then, Shhaideh was state secretary at the Regional Development Ministry and Rovana Plumb was holding the environment portfolio.
BRUSSELS — European Council President Donald Tusk has introduced an ambitious schedule of 13 regular summits over the next two years to revive the European Union after the Brexit. Tusk made public this schedule on Tuesday, after several calls for a profound revision of the Union, including from French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker. The schedule starts with the end of the week summit in Brussels, which will be attended by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. President Tusks plan will also include an extraordinary European summit in Romania a few weeks after the UK leaves the EU, which is scheduled for March 2019, as well as a security summit next year in Vienna.
TRADE — The U.S. trade mission Trade Winds 2017, the largest government trade mission in the history of the Southeast Europe region is Taking Place in Bucharest, between October 18-20. The mission is organized by the US Department of Commerce in partnership with the Romanian government. The event concludes on Friday, and will be attended by 100 American and 50 Romanian companies. In the three days of the forum, the attendees will be holding business and trade conferences, as well as discussions with American commercial attaches from 25 European states. Parallel events are held in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Serbia. This is the 10th year the Department of Commerce’s U.S. Commercial Service has led Trade Winds.
