The Liberal Party (LP) has launched a campaign to collect signatures for opening the two Romanian consulates in Balti and Cahul, Mihai Ghimpu, the leader of the party, told a press-conference on March 19. According to him, the signatures are to be collected by the party’s branches from the whole territory of Moldova, and then submitted to the government. Ghimpu believes that Chisinau authorities refused to open the two new consulates so as to hinder the Romanian Embassy from coping with the large number of visa requests, thus to discourage Romania from requesting the opening of the Common Application Visa Centre. During the conference, Ghimpu has also mentioned that LP disapproves the policy of the Russian peace-keepers on Nistru and has urged officials in Chisinau to replace them with EU peace-keeping troops. Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration sent a Note to the Romanian Embassy which announced the refusal to open those two consulates. Two days ago, Franco Frattini, the vice-president of the European Commission, Commissioner for justice, freedom and security, expressed hope that Chisinau authorities would authorise the opening of those two Romanian consulates.