Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu: From now on, the Romanian minority in Ukraine's official language is Romanian, not Moldovan

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu: From now on, the Romanian minority in Ukraine's official language is Romanian, not Moldovan

From now on, Romanian is the official language of the Romanian minority in Ukraine, not Moldovan, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Wednesday in Kyiv.

At the end of a joint meeting of the national governments of Romania and Ukraine, he said that Ukraine on Wednesday decided to recognise the Romanian language as the official language of the Romanian minority in Ukraine.

The measure was adopted as part of Ukraine's obligation to fulfill the rights of national minorities criteria for joining the European Union.

"We are talking about the rapid accession of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the European Union. For the accession, there are also some principles regarding the rights of minorities. These principles are at the European level. Romania also respected all the necessary principles for accession to the European Union. Regarding the rights of minorities, I am convinced that Romania can make available to Ukraine its entire legislation, as this approach is good practice in Romania. The inter-institutional relationship between me and Mr Prime Minister is no longer at the level of making promises. We decide together what is best for the people we represent. There was a government meeting within the joint meeting of Romania and Ukraine and the Ukrainian government's decision was that the official language on the territory of Ukraine is the Romanian language," said Ciolacu.

He also mentioned the rights of the Christian Orthodox priests from the Romanian community of Ukraine, who have the right to provide church services in Romanian.

"I think it is equally important to make sure that Romanian Orthodox priests will continue to provide church services in Romanian. Religious freedom is a fundamental right, and the preservation of religious identity and the language of service are fundamental principles for any society."

AGERPRES