Bucharest summons ambassador to Chisinau for consultations

Romania’s ambassador to Chisinau was summoned to Bucharest for consultations regarding the recent developments in bilateral relations between Romania and Moldova. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Filip Teodorescu’s summoning by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI) in Chisinau, as a result of an interview given by the chairman of the Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER), Ion Caramitru, to “Jurnal de Chisinau” newspaper, is “inadequate”. It is expected that during the consultations the stance of the Moldovan MFA is debated and an assessment of the situation is carried out. Romanian authorities say that "Ion Caramitru is a private person and can freely express his personal opinions and these can not be qualified as the official stance of Romania. Freedom of expression is a fundamental condition in a law-based state”. At the same time, Romania sought explanations for the tone of the recent statements made by Chisinau authorities. “Romania expects that the reconfirmation of Chisinau’s pro-European course to be interpreted as a big commitment for making concrete efforts, and voices its further readiness to support all pro-European approaches of Chisinau”, the Romanian Foreign Ministry asserted. As the same source reports, Romania’s efforts are made to carry conviction that Moldova will become in the near future a state with a consolidated democracy, a law-based state that respects the fundamental human rights and freedoms, reaching its European destiny”. The scandal broke out after the well-known actor Ion Caramitru, on a visit to Chisinau, had stated that "historically speaking, Moldova has always been a part of Romania and sooner or later, it will return to its motherland". After the interview appeared, the Moldovan authorities had summoned for explanations the head of the Romanian diplomatic mission, who had supposedly been one of the organisers of the spectacle held by Ion Caramitru. Recently, speaking in an interview to a Russian news portal, President Vladimir accused Romania of interference in Moldova’s home affairs, stating that “it attempts to prescribe its own game rules, and has kept prescribing them during 15 years of independence. Objectively speaking, it is an interference in a sovereign state’s home affairs”, said Voronin.