Chisinau levels harsh criticism at Romania

Moldova’s Government headed by Vasile Tarlev has issued tough statements against Romania. The Moldovan Government claims that official Bucharest’s policies threaten the sovereignty and national security of Moldova, while the decision of President Traian Basescu regarding the future European Visa Centre, managed by Romania, is considered insulting. According to a statement made on Tuesday, 5 March, by the Tarlev Cabinet, “the speculative way in which Moldova’s specific situation, created after the recent EU enlargement, used by the neighbour state, Romania, is more than unacceptable”. The authorities in Bucharest are also accused that they intentionally overstated the figure of the applications for Romanian citizenship submitted by Moldovan citizens. “The recent statements of Romania’s government, which said that it had received 800,000 applications for Romanian citizenship by Moldovan citizens and the so-called obligation of Romania to establish a Center for Issuing Visas for EU member states in Chisinau, serve as a prove. It is not a coincidence that exactly from the moment Romania obtained certitude of the EU membership, the Romanian authorities’ actions were methodically aimed at inventing and artificially maintaining the problem related to the Romanian citizenship for Moldovan citizens”, the statement says. Moldova’s Government claims that there can not be other explanations for this attitude than those of a false attitude in the case of Romania’s claim to play a role in creating the European Visa Application Centre in Chisinau, launched just now when the procedures for opening the Centre by the Hungarian Embassy are about to be completed. “The simulated agitation created by Romanian authorities’ actions as concerns the granting of the Romanian citizenship to Moldovan citizens, by emphasising the excessive number of the submitted applications, distorts both the concept of citizenship and of idea that laid on the basis of creating the visa application centre in Chisinau, the statement also reads. Given these conditions, the fact that Romanian authorities are not willing to sign the Basic Political Treaty and the Border Treaty with Moldova can be interpreted, according to Tarlev Cabinet, as a confirmation of the real intentions pursued by the leadership of the neighbour state. The Moldovan Government calls on the EU to use its influence on Romania so that it “brings its interests in line with good neighbourhood relations and understanding. Moldova does not accept that the future of its citizens be part of behind-the-scenes dangerous games, which undermine national security and the principles of sovereignty for which the Moldovan citizens had sacrificed themselves”, the statement by the Tarlev Cabinet concluded.