The founding president of the 'Basarabia' Association in Odessa, Anatol Popescu, has called on President Nicusor Dan and acting Foreign Minister Oana Toiu to assess the possibility of recalling Romania's ambassador to Ukraine, Alexandru Victor Micula, accusing him of an 'unacceptable' and 'counterproductive' handling of the crisis surrounding Romanian-language pre-university education in Ukraine.

In an open letter addressed to authorities in Bucharest and Kyiv, Popescu urged the Romanian Foreign Ministry to urgently replace Micula with a career diplomat experienced in the former Soviet space and to restore the protection of the rights of Ukraine's historic Romanian community to the forefront of the Romanian Embassy's agenda in Kyiv.

Popescu also criticized Ukrainian authorities for disregarding amendments proposed by Romanian community leaders to draft law No. 16,119 of October 1, 2026, concerning the educational rights of national minorities, which is expected to be voted on in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on October 12.

'Given the lack of genuine consultations with representatives of the Romanian historical communities in the regions of Transcarpathia, Chernivtsi and Odessa, and the late convening of the 'information session' on October 9, 2026, just three days before the parliamentary vote, we hereby express our protest and call on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to postpone the vote scheduled for Monday, October 12, 2026, on Draft Law No. 16,119 of October 1, 2026, to a later date, following public consultations with representatives of the Romanian national community (minority) in Ukraine,' the letter sent by Anatol Popescu states.

He further requested that the foreign ministries of Romania and Ukraine to urgently convene an extraordinary session of the bilateral intergovernmental Commission on national minorities to discuss amendments submitted by representatives of the Romanian community in Ukraine to the education bill currently under parliamentary debate. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Cristian Lupascu; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)

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