On Wednesday, President Klaus Iohannis had a telephone conversation with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenski, to whom he informed that “the new law on national minorities has created concern and discontent among the Romanian authorities” and asked him to resolve the problem situation, according to a press release from the presidential administration.
Iohannis and Zelenski agreed that the foreign ministers of Romania and Ukraine should meet and seek solutions to ensure the rights of the Romanian minority in Ukraine.
“President Zelenski has expressed his full willingness to identify solutions, so that the Romanian community in Ukraine benefits, in a specular way, from the same rights enjoyed by the Ukrainian community in Romania”, reads the cited press release.
The two presidents also discussed Romania’s help after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Iohannis saying Romania will help Ukraine “as long as necessary”.
The full statement:
President Klaus Iohannis expressed deep concern and concern about the continued attacks by the Russian military on civilian targets and critical infrastructure in Ukraine, which constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law, and strongly condemned Russia’s continued airstrikes, who left Ukraine in the dark and cold.
The President of Romania recalled the coherent and multidimensional support provided by our country, both through direct assistance, support for refugees, the supply of generators, respectively the facilitation of the transit of grain, and by supporting the European integration of Ukraine, the adoption of sanctions against Russia and, respectively, actions aimed at the international isolation of Russia. In this context, President Klaus Iohannis reiterated the fact that Romania will continue to act to help Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as long as necessary.
The President of Romania extensively referred to the recent law on national minorities adopted by Ukraine, which has created concern and discontent among the Romanian authorities and representatives of the Romanian community in Ukraine. President Klaus Iohannis has asked President Zelenski to quickly identify solutions to address and remedy these concerns. In this sense, the two Presidents agreed that in the immediate following period the foreign ministers of the two countries will discuss the bilateral solution of the aforementioned issues.
Furthermore, President Klaus Iohannis reiterated Romania’s support for Ukraine’s European path and welcomed the reforms implemented, in accordance with the commitments undertaken in the relationship with the European Union.
For his part, the President of Ukraine thanked for the multidimensional and extremely consistent support provided by Romania since the beginning of the war and underlined the need to continue supporting Ukraine, especially in the context where attacks by Russia are always more aggressive, with a serious impact on the civilian population and infrastructure.
As regards the issues relating to the Romanian minority, President Volodîmîr Zelenski expressed his full willingness to identify solutions, so that the Romanian community in Ukraine benefits, in a specular way, from the same rights enjoyed by the Ukrainian community in Romania.
