The Moldovan-Romanian relations, after 2016, last year returned “to normal breathing with both of the institutional lungs” formed by the two senior bodies of the political power in the state – the Presidential Office and the Government, said political commentator Ion Tăbârță. According to him, in 2022 the relations between the Republic of Moldova and Romania will advance in a number of directions. The macroeconomic tendencies and stable political dialogue will continue, while the bilateral cooperation agreed by signing a roadmap between the two states on November 23 will be accelerated, IPN reports.
The commentator noted that the given roadmap that is classed as a priority, putting into operation of the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline, building of electricity interconnections and of the Ungheni-Ungheni road bridge, reinforcement of the Galați-Giurgiulești bridge and rehabilitation of the Galați-Giurgiulești railway bridge are older projects whose implementation was earlier postponed for multiple reasons.
Ion Tăbârță said it is highly improbable that major progress will be made in 2022 over each of the mentioned initiatives. The prospects of putting the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline into operation are not clear even if the pipeline had been built. It will be hard to make the gas pipeline functional in 2022 amid Europe’s energy crisis and the lack of initiative on the part of the Moldovan Government in this regard.
The roadmap provides for the signing of a new agreement on the implementation of a technical and financial assistance program based on non-reimbursable financial assistance provided by Romania to the Republic of Moldova, which would replace the agreement of 2010 that became null and void on March 28, 2021. A new agreement has all the chances of being signed in 2022, given the symbolical value and special importance of a bilateral cooperation framework in the field of institutional reforms in the Republic of Moldova.
As to the commercial dimension, statistics that refer to bilateral trade point to the future potential of the commercial and economic relations, Romania being now the main commercial partner of the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, in medical cooperation during the pandemic, Romania played a decisive role for the Republic of Moldova. It is expected that the critical assistance of the Romanian state in reducing the devastating impact of the pandemic will continue in 2022, becoming a stable practice.
Ion Tăbârță also referred to the regional context of the threats. According to him, in case of dissentions in the region, the Republic of Moldova can really count on Romania. “Undoubtedly, the Republic of Moldova needs a special political agreement with Romania in the field of security, not only in the military sector and not like a basic political treaty that was wanted by the Moldovan Agrarians and Communists, but a fundamental agreement providing that Romania will contribute to guaranteeing the state security and territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova, based on the concept of the two sovereign Romanian sates formulated back at the start of the 1990s,” he stated.
The political commentator also said that if exceptional political turbulence that would force the replacement of the government and any other forms of extended political crisis are not witnessed in Chisinau, the relations between the Republic of Moldova and Romania will maintain an accelerated pace.
A joint meeting of the governments of the two states was set for this month. The agenda includes the approval of a number of concrete projects. The warm and friendly dialogue between the chairmen is expected to create a constructive atmosphere there.
