Why did Filat go to meet with Basecu? Info-Prim Neo analysis

The question in the title implies another sub-question so that the full title will be “Why did Filat go to meet with Basescu or Why did they look for Filat after he returned from Basescu”? The sub-question derives from the way in which the press speculated about the main, undeclared aims and results of the meeting of the two officials. Instead of looking for real answers to the deriving questions, the press searched for subtexts. The two officials did not clearly say why they needed to meet so urgently as the Moldovan Premier was vacationing with his family in Greece and had to interrupt his holiday and pay a flying, but official visit to Iasi. Why was such a hurry needed for? What kind of things could not be discussed over the phone for example? The Moldovan society is still looking for answers to these questions. Initially, it was presumed that this way Filat wanted to hasten the provision of the financial assistance promised by Romania for the Moldovan flood victims or seek a larger volume. But the journalists attending the news conference given after the meeting said Filat and Basescu remembered this topic towards the end of conference and gave the impression they could have left it out. As there was no other information, the press identified two unessential details as themes for news stories: 1. The first building materials for flood victims will arrive in Moldova on August 24; 2. This aid is the merit of “the Romanian people” not the Moldovan politicians. The rest of the reports were based on standard communique phrases like “we met”, “we discussed”, “we reiterated”, etc. Thus, the national and foreign press started to speculate: 1.”Filat was invited by Basescu to Iasi to account for the smuggling of cigarettes; 2. “The Americans forced Basescu to accept Filat as a prime candidate for the presidency, though Basescu likes Ghimpu more”; 3. “Basescu tried to convince Filat to cooperate with Ghimpu”. Anyone has the right to opinion, but the above-mentioned views are not relevant if you want to handle things and, eventually, help other people. 1. The matters concerning alleged smuggling are not discussed in an official meeting, with the press informed about it in advance. 2. Are the Americans so interested in Moldova and Vlad Filar that they left aside all their problems and decided to focus on the issue overnight? Most probably, the decision to hold the meeting was taken in several hours. Filat wouldn't have gone to Greece on vacation if he had known about the meeting with Basescu beforehand. Or the Romanian President hurried to report the fulfillment of the task to the Americans?. 3. Would have Basescu dared to interrupt Filat's vacation to his own detriment? Judging by the circumstance, it was the meeting itself that counted and a number of important issues were raised on this occasion, while the hurry shows that the Romanian President knows well the political program and developments in Moldova and does not want to delay certain moves. The fact that he arranged the meeting is unquestionable as the two officials have different statuses. Basescu could not invite Filat earlier because Acting President Mihai Ghimpu had been in Romania on a private visit for two weeks and they had a meeting. Such an overlapping would have been against political ethics. It seems that Basescu could not postpone the invitation for Filat given that presidential and parliamentary elections may take place in Moldova on November 14. The election campaign would start on September 14 and this date is not far. Moreover, the leaders of the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) cannot miss the coming national holidays as they do not want to be associated with former President Vladimir Voronin, who always found excuses not to attend the ceremonies held to celebrate the Language Day. The constitutional referendum comes next. Possibly, Basescu himself planned a vacation in the immediate period. After having an unplanned meeting with one of the leaders of the AEI and being aware of the rivalries inside the Alliance, Basescu found time to meet with another AEI leader so as not to give the impression that he supports one of the leaders. In fact, when asked by the journalists why he needed to meet with Filat, after meeting with Ghimpu, Basescu gave a transparent answer in a jocular form: “you probably wonder why I met with only two of the leaders.” A third leader of the Alliance planned to go to Bucharest after the Parliament's session closed, but it is not known if he went there. In this connection, Basescu said after the meeting that he wanted to discuss with Vlad Filat as Romania's representative in the Council of Europe. The Romanian President knew or anticipated that the Moldovan leaders will be jealous as they hurry to boast of contribution to developing the Moldovan-Romanian relations, including to obtaining building materials for the flood victims. Thus, Basescu did not want to give the impression that he had special relations with one or a part of the AEI leaders before the election campaign, as he could lose popularity with the Romanian society and the Moldovan one that have different and specific tastes. Traian Basescu already burned his fingers in 2005, when he came to Chisinau to support Vladimir Voronin in his efforts to win a second term in office as President...