German Ambassador: Useful if entire Government distanced themselves from defamation of German minority

The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Romania, Cord Meier-Klodt, said on Monday that it would be useful if the entire Government distanced themselves from the defamation of the German minority.

"The recent defamatory statements by some senior Romanian politicians about the German minority are totally unacceptable. I am very grateful that the minister of foreign affairs has firmly rejected these defamations (...) many other voices in the political sphere, in the civil society, but also many individual voices expressed their solidarity. This is the reason why I would like to thank you and this is the living expression of European solidarity. I do not want to hide the fact that it would be useful if the entire Romanian Government distanced themselves publicly and unconditionally from these defamations, because these defamations have importance for all, not just for the German minority, these affect us all," the German ambassador said at the debate "100 years - Modern Romania and the Role of Minorities. The German Minority as Incentive of Community Dialogue."
 
He said that modern Romania has successfully gone through a century full of "huge challenges and terrible catastrophes" as a unitary, pluri-ethnic, pluri-cultural, pluri-lingual and pluri-religious country, united in diversity, in fact as "a small early Europe". Meier-Klodt added that this aspect deserves to be mentioned more often, especially in the context of the Centennial.

The German ambassador also said that minorities are building bridges between Romania and their countries of origin.

Attending the same debate, organized on the initiative of the Romanian-German Bilateral Cooperation Forum, presidential adviser Sergiu Nistor said that the accusations concerning the German minority should be strongly condemned.

Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs George Ciamba said that Romania is the country of diversity, being marked by various cultural influences. He mentioned that, alongside the Romanian majority population, 20 national minorities live on the territory of the country. Ciamba stated that the German minority was a catalyst for bilateral relations, it had and has an important role in the development of the civil society. He also mentioned that Germany is the third foreign investor in the Romanian economy.

In his turn, philosopher Andrei Plesu, president of the Romanian-German Bilateral Cooperation Forum, said that it seemed "brutal" that some politicians are willing to stigmatize a colleague because they belong to the German minority.

The President of the German Democratic Forum of Romania (FDGR), Paul Jurgen Porr, said that a denigration campaign against FDGR started in 2014. "The target was Iohannis, we were just casualties (...) this campaign has been exacerbated lately," the FDGR chairman said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Iulia Carciog, editor: Marius Fratila; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi; editor: Simona Iacob)