Ethnic groups in Ukraine

Moldovan President Igor Dodon has declared 2019 the "year of the Stephen the Great," recalling a famous ruler of Moldova in the 15th and 16th century - in what many see as a campaign to boost support for Moldovan independence and counter pro-Romanian forces ahead of next year's elections. 

Bucharest, Dec 1 /Agerpres/ - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Teodor Melescanu, stated that the Great Union of 1918 was the "sublime act of Romanian national will", which belongs to the nation and is not the singular work of any political figure, party or government.

The Romanian Embassy will send all the official proclamations and messages dedicated to the Greater Union Centennial issued by the American states' governors, as part of a project initiated by Romania's diplomatic mission in Washington, to the National Union Museum in Alba Iulia, reads a release of the Embassy remitted to AGERPRES.

The Government calls on the Romanian nation, at the opening of a "new century of real unity, in the fullest brotherly harmony, in tolerance and good neighborliness," reads the Alba Iulia Resolution, signed by Prime Minister Viorica Dancila.

Almost 200,000 Bulgarians living on the territory of Ukraine will be affected by the 30-day martial law imposed this morning, reported the Bulgarian National Television. 

It is in place in 10 regions of the country, among them the region of Odessa and the region of Zaporizhia where there is a compact Bulgarian community.

More than half of the Romanians (60pct) say they have bank loans, whilst over one third (37pct) say their mandatory monthly spending matches exactly the amount of their income, a sociological survey related to the Romanians financial habits, published on Thursday, reveals.

A Romanian police raid on Thursday revealed that thousands of Moldovans have paid for fake addresses to get citizenship of EU-member Romania and an official residence in Bucharest.

Requests for Romanian citizenship in Ukraine's Odessa region have doubled since the start of 2017, which analysts say might cause further tension with Bucharest - already angered by the adoption of language laws promoting Ukrainian in 2017.

Bucharest scrapped its consular fees for passports in 2017, which had amounted to around 300 US dollars.

Italy ranks first among foreign investors in Romania in terms of the number of companies doing business in Romania, and the trade between the two countries reached a record high value in 2017, the highest in a decade, says George Gabriel Bologan, Romania's Ambassador to Italy in an interview to AGERPRES.

Romania's parliament is to discuss a bill that would allow ethnic Romanians from non-EU countries in the Balkans to get jobs in Romania more easily than other non-EU citizens, to meet a growing labour shortage.

MPs from a number of parties submitted the bill to the Senate last week. It must now be discussed by parliamentary commissions and in plenary sessions.