The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) hails the adoption by the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) of the European Council of its Opinion regarding the article 7 of the Education Law of Ukraine, on the use, in education, of the state language, languages of national minorities and other languages.
In a release to AGERPRES, MAE reminded that Romania made a firm diplomatic effort in promoting the rights of the Romanian minority in Ukraine and that it also requested Ukraine to consult with the Venice Commission in respect to the content of the Education Law and transpose the Commission’s opinion into the Ukrainian legislation. Moreover, he reminded that in the direct meetings at bilateral level with the Romanian side, the Ukrainian side committed to remedy the problems created by this law, especially through its article 7, by applying the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
“The Opinion of the Venice Commission confirms Romania’s opinion with respect to the negative impact of the article 7 of the abovementioned law on the rights of persons belonging to the national minorities in Ukraine, including those belonging to the Romanian minority. The Venice Commission criticized the article 7 of the law in question and asked for its modification, while appreciating that the law was vague, it lacked legal precision and clarity and it did not guarantee the right to education in the language of minorities. The Commission requested thus the modification of the article 7, to be more clear and fair. The Commission also found that, as the Romanian side claimed, the Law triggers a diminishing of learning opportunities, in the language of minorities, which could be including a problem related to the Law’s constitutionality,” reads the MAE release.
Moreover, the Commission of Venice, as according to MAE, reiterated that the objective of the Ukrainian law to strengthen education in the national language shouldn’t be promoted to the disadvantage of minority languages spoken on the territory of Ukraine, with the necessity to keep a balance that guarantees education in the language of minorities. Thus, the law should ensure a fair balance in promoting the state language and protecting the language rights of the minorities, which can not be diminished without justification.
Minister Pastirnac: Ukraine’s schools providing tuition in Romanian language stay of interest for Romanians residing there
Minister for Romanians Abroad Andreea Pastirnac stated on Friday that Romania’s goal in the dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities, regarding the preservation of the Romanian language for the Romanians living in this country is to further cultivate the interest of our community there, for the Romanian language.
“Currently, after the adoption of Romania’s Government Emergency Ordinance, we started to work together with the National Education Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry in terms of the manner to offer this educational package, which is addressed, in the first place, the pupils in the pre-university education, but also some short and attractive training courses for teaches, not just for the Romanian language teachers, but also for the teaches who teach other subjects in the Romanian language, so, this way, be able to perfection themselves, and Ukraine’s schools providing tuition in the Romanian language remain of interest for our community residing there and further improve their activity. Especially not to end this activity. Besides, this is our objective in our bilateral dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities,” Minister Pastirnac told AGERPRES.
She mentioned that, for the time being, the dialogue is “on a first level.”
“We have a bilateral dialogue. Certainly, we have to be extremely close to our goals, not to give them up. It’s a dialogue which is at a first level, but our objective is to maintain the current schools and the Romanian curriculum of Ukraine and allow pupils who chose tuition in the Romanian language to continue this programme and expand cooperation with Romania. This, both through programmes with partner schools of Romania or with schools teaching the Ukrainian language in Romania – we have talked about this partnership with Ukraine’s Minister of Education – but also to encourage those who chose, in extremely difficult conditions, to continue their education in the Romanian language,” Andreea Pastirnac also said.
Minister for Romanians Abroad Andreea Pastirnac attended on Friday, at the Parliament Palace, the closing ceremony of the minister’s programme, 2017 edition, called “Discover and know Romania,” which is dedicated this year to the Romanian ethnics of the Republic of Moldova.
