Opening temporary Romanian consulates in Balti and Cahul does not solve the problem on long term – political analysts

The opening of the two temporary Romanian consulates in Balti and Chisinau does not plainly satisfy the request of Romania and will not solve the problem on a long term, political analyst Igor Munteanu said live on DTV TV channel on Saturday, January 20. According to Munteanu, the problem of visas occurred at the beginning of this year is a technical incident. Probably it was considered fewer visas will be requested. However, it is important that Romania’s President Traian Basescu spared some time to solve the crisis, that could have created a negative image to Romania if it would not have been solved quickly, he said. During the same talk-show, analyst Andrei Popov said that this is a technical problem, but it is due to the problems Moldova has in its relations with Romania. Basescu’s visit to Chisinau is not only aiming at settling the visa issue, but also at improving the relations between the two countries in light of the fact that they worsened in 2006. At the same time, the analyst says the fact that the involvement of the presidents was necessary in order to solve the problems, shows the lack of a proper relation between Bucharest and Chisinau. Basescu paid a flying visit to Chisinau on January 16. As a result of the meeting with President Vladimir Voronin it was decided to open two Romanian consulates in Balti and Chisinau as fast as possible, in order to spur the process of obtaining visas. Basescu specified that the two institutions might be opened within 7-10 days.