Liberals against new arrangement with EU before 2009 elections

In a statement published today, the Liberal Party (PL) suggests the authorities of the European Union shouldn't give the go-ahead for talks on a new agreement with Moldova before the 2009 parliamentary elections, Info-Prim Neo reports. Speaking at a press conference, PL leader Mihai Ghimpu has stated that Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has no moral right to propose such an agreement for consideration before the elections, because the communist government has failed to fulfill the commitments assumed under the EU-Moldova Action Plan and those to the Council of Europe. Mihai Ghimpu believes that the head of state pursues electoral interests when the launches such proposals. “While in 2001 the Communists won offering cheap vodka and sausages and in 2005 by exploiting the European integration idea, now they try to fool the voters with this agreement”, said Ghimpu, adding: “the PL believes that the integration into the EU cannot take place on the basis of agreements, plans and treaties, but through reform, which should be carried out by the government”. When asked about the proposal of the Liberal Democratic Party to consider a merger, Ghimpu said: “We have always been an anticommunist party and we wish that one day Moldova will get rid of the communist government, but we have been deceived. The Soviet-Communist nomenklatura has always taken power with the help of the right-wing parties. Talk is cheap, we want action”, said Ghimpu. Last week the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vlad Filat, sent a letter to the leaders of the Moldova Noastra Alliance Party and to PL suggesting them to consider setting up a “council for dialogue and participation” with a view to identifying solutions for a joint participation in the upcoming elections. The Alliance has agreed.