22 February 2017 The members of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region and the delegation of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies’ Committee for Romanian Communities Living Abroad

22 February 2017 The members of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region and the delegation of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies’ Committee for Romanian Communities Living Abroad

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

Delegation of Romanian Chamber of Deputies’ Committee for Romanian Communities Living Abroad Visits Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region

The members of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region received today a delegation of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies’ Committee for Romanian Communities Living Abroad to discuss the rights of the Serb minority in Romania and Romanian minority in Serbia.


Committee Chairman MA Ivan Kostic said that the relationship between the Serbian and Romanian people is an example of good-neighbourly relations in Europe.

“Both nations should be proud of their shared history, replete with examples of good relations, above all the fact that we have never been at war with each other”, said Kostic.

Kostic thanked the Romanian colleagues for not recognizing the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and their country’s abstaining from the vote on Kosovo’s UNESCO bid. Kostic also commended the Romanian state’s attitude toward the Serb community and abiding by all international norms as regards the rights of national minorities.

“We believe that Serbia has reached a high level of respect of minority rights, as recognized by EU dignitaries. Romanian identity and tradition are highly regarded and respected in Serbia. The Romanian community in Serbia has all the rights to education and information in their mother tongue and preservation of cultural identity”, said Kostic.

Constantin Codreanu, Chairman of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies’ Committee for Romanian Communities Living Abroad, agreed with his Serbian colleagues that the relations between the two countries are at a very high level, stressing that Romania is a true partner to Serbia on the path to the EU. He asked for parliamentary support to deblock the work of the mixed commission for Romanian and Serbian national minorities i.e. the appointment of co-president by the Serbian side.

The members of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region offered to help their Romanian colleagues by working as intermediaries in addressing these issues, and noted that all the outstanding issues between the two countries should be addressed at the bilateral level.

They officials also discussed the relationship between the Serbian and Romanian church, equal rights for the Romanian national minority on the entire territory of Serbia, the constitutional right of every Serbian citizen to freely declare national affiliation, right to information in one’s mother tongue, etc.

Committee member Aleksandar Cotric commended the fact that Romanian legislation enables the parliamentary representation of national minorities, thus the Serbian minority has its own member in the Romanian Parliament. He thanked the Romanian state for the annual allocation of about 800,000 EUR in support of activities and programmes aimed at the preservation of the national identity of Serbs in Romania.

On the behalf of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region the meeting was also attended by members Blazo Knezevic and Prim. Dr Vlado Babic.



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friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

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