The tariffs for the phone talks between Romania and the Republic of Moldova are very high and unjustified, and this hinders the creation of a unique communication space between the two Romanian states, Valeriu Munteanu, the leader of Uniunea Salvati Basarabia (Save Bessarabia Union) Political Party, said at a press conference. He believes that the roaming charges issue is a political one.
According to Valeriu Munteanu, for several years Chisinau Government has been simulating discussions with Romania as regards the reduction of roaming tariffs, and this is "a big scam". Valeriu Munteanu says that "it gives the impression that it is working, that sides should agree, that Romania should give up something", while "the reduction of roaming charges between the two Romanian states depends exclusively on Chisinau Government”. According to USB leader, the issue is a political one, not economic or otherwise, and it should not take years to solve it.
Alexander Bostan, a member of the USB Standing Bureau, said that operators in the European economic area were mutually applying their national roaming rates. And Romanian operators apply the same favourable regime to the operators in the Republic of Moldova. In his opinion, it would have been natural for Moldovan operators to treat the Romanian operators in a similar way. According to Alexandru Bostan, a call from the Republic of Moldova to a Romanian mobile network costs several times less than a call made from Romania to the Republic of Moldova.
Ilie Crețu, USB Secretary General, says that more than 20 thousand young people are studying in Romania, while the number of those who work makes up several tens of thousands. Also, several thousand Moldovans either process their Romanian documents or submit files to regain the Romanian citizenship on daily basis. Similarly, several thousand others transit Romania daily to other EU countries. "Every year there are thousands of cases when Moldovans who stay for several days in Romania pay large amounts of money for the roaming service," Ilie Crețu said
USB asks Prime Minister Maia Sandu to get personally involved in solving the issue of reducing roaming tariffs between the Republic of Moldova and Romania.
