Visa Centre to open in Chisinau on April 25

The Common Visa Application Centre (CVAC) will be officially opened at the Hungarian Embassy in Chisinau on April 25, 2007, by the Foreign Minister of Hungary and Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission. According to Prompt Media, the new ambassador of Hungary in Chisinau, Mihaly Bayer, said that Hungary’s diplomatic mission had insisted on opening the centre in its embassy before Romania became an EU member and the preparations were almost complete. Bayer also said that for the time being there is no need to open a similar centre in Chisinau. Hungary’s Embassy in Chisinau, along with its partners, will launch in this respect an official webpage (www.cac.md). To facilitate the visa issuance, a voicemail will operate round a clock within the centre. Prompt Media claims that, by opening the CVAC at the Hungarian Embassy, the authorities in Chisinau take an official step toward “severely weakening the relations with Romania, willing to show that – for the time being – there is no way of reconciling”. According to the same source, “thus, the Romanians in Moldova will be forced to request a visa to enter Romania from the Hungarian Embassy”. In addition, the quoted source says, “Basarabia announced this intention long ago, while the Romanian Foreign Ministry delayed much too long in giving an official response”.