Romania Supports Republic Of Moldova EU Accession

[Harold F. Schiffman]

 Romania Supports Republic Of Moldova EU Accession Along West Balkan


Romania's President Traian Basescu Friday said the east-European nation
would continue to support its neighbor Republic of Moldovas European Union
integration to occur at the same time with that of the nations in the
Western Balkans. It would be dramatic if Repubic of Moldova would be left
behind, and its EU accession timed with the one of Ukraine, said Basescu
at a seminar on Romanias international relations. He added that Romania
would not tire to explain the EU officials why Moldovas accession should
happen at the same time with that of the Western Balkan nations.

The Romanian people can come together, for the time being, under the
umbrella of the European Union, said Basescu. Romania and Republic of
Moldova were part of the same state between 1918 and 1944, and share the
same language. However, the official stance in Moldovas capital, Chisinau,
may not be to support the above statement. In fact, recent weeks had seen
a strong offensive on the idea of same language, Romanian, being spoken in
both countries. Bilingual high-schools had their names changed from
Romanian-French language, or Romanian-English language high-schools, to
Moldovan-French, or Moldovan-English language highs-schools, respectively.

When asked if Romania's initiatives are met with a cold shoulder or not
from Republic of Moldova, Basescu answered it was unfortunate that neither
its neighbor nor the Russian Federation or Ukraine wanted Romania to take
part in the negotiation for the return of the sessionist Transnistria
region to Moldova. Of course, this attitude one may connect with the
changes of high-school names they made, said Basescu. But I take it upon
myself to not prompt a freeze of our bilateral relations, as it happened
in 2000. After all, we should understand that Republic of Moldova is an
independent state, free to take decisions in its Parliament and
Government, added Basescu.

Addressing other areas of Romanias foreign policy, Basescu said the
country could not concentrate solely on its NATO and EU relations but it
had to look other ways too. Reinforcing relations with China and Japan,
and aggressively pursue a rapprochement with the Arab states were high on
the agenda, Basescu said. As for our relations with the Russian
Federation, I have to admit that we have a different reading on what
pragmatic relations are; but time will probably bring about an efficient
cooperation, at least in the Black Sea area, if not beyond it, Basescu
said. He also addressed the issue of the liquefied gas-terminal the Qatari
want to set at up at Constanta to supply Western Europe. Europeans should
show their interest in this project too, and chip in, said Basescu.
Romania cannot go it alone.

Translated by Anca Paduraru

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