Romania’s Ruling Coalition Wants Education Reform Effective By Yearend

He said the party would find it very difficult to continue to be part of the ruling coalition unless the country’s education system reform becomes effective. He said ruling coalition parties had a meeting Monday morning and agreed the law needs to enter force by the end of the year.

The Constitutional Court last week acknowledged a legal conflict on constitutional grounds between the Government and Parliament over the education bill, which the Executive pulled from the Senate and sought to adopt through a confidence vote.

The court ruling was hailed by the opposition but upset the Hungarian minority party, which has threatened to leave the ruling coalition unless progress is made regarding minorities’ rights. The education bill allows national minorities to take all school subjects, except Romanian language and literature, in their mother tongue.

The Government has said it will consult with the Parliament about procedures to pass the education law, but is waiting for the Constitutional Court to motivate its ruling first.

UDMR leader Marko Bela said Saturday after a party meeting that UDMR expects democrat liberal ruling coalition partners to find ways for the urgent adoption of the education bill, or the party will leave the coalition.