Any assistance that Romania will offer to Moldova, including the financial one, is to be attentively assessed and subject to strict conditionality related to the support for a reform path. The reforms are wanted not by Romania or the European partners, but first of all by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and should meet high expectations of the citizens.
In a video interview given by Romania’s Ambassador in Chisinau to IPN News Agency, Daniel Ioniţă said that in the period prior to the fielding of the no-confidence motion, the Government of Romania and Romanian officials issued signals to the Moldovan authorities, calling for responsibility and expressing hope that any decision that will be taken will not affect the European course and the reform path. “We attentively follow and assess the implementation of the decisions taken by the authorities in Chisinau, with full respect for sovereignty,” he stated.
Asked about the eventual changes to the bilateral relations following the change of governments in the two states, the ambassador said we should first wait to see how things develop, especially in Chisinau. “There is almost perfect similitude between Chisinau and Bucharest. The governments were changed. Currently, the governments and the Presidents follow the same political support line. Let’s wait and will then see what namely we can do in the future. I think it is too soon to venture into hazardous assessments that can transmit inappropriate signals in the public sphere,” stated the ambassador.
Asked if he can pronounce on the development of the unionist current versus the statehood supporting current in Moldova, the diplomat accepted to refer only to a social phenomenon called the wish for union. “This wish for the union did not die either in Romania or in the former Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic. Eighty years ago, when the border over the Prut was erected, no one asked the citizens in what country they want to live and that arbitrary decision taken then caused a lot of interpersonal dramas.
“I travelled a lot in the Republic of Moldova and saw families that during many years, many decades were separated. Some of the family members remained on the left bank of the Prut, while others on the right bank of the river. The families weren’t allowed to at least write letters to each other. When the unwanted barbed wire on the Prut was removed, these relations started to develop naturally.”
Daniel Ioniță said that even during the time of Ceausescu and when Moldova formed part of the Soviet Union, the unionist feeling in the two societies existed and it seems that it will further exist. “Many see the union as a solution, as a universal panacea that can fully solve the problem. Others consider this is rather a political opportunity for rapprochement, joining, creation of conditions that would ensure societal development under better bases.”
The ambassador said Romania considers ATU Gagauzia and the Transnistrian region are integral parts of the Republic of Moldova and the efforts made by the Government of Romania during the past few years to support social projects didn’t cover only a limited geographic area and didn’t depend on a particular language spoken or other political factors. “In the recent period, Romania implemented social projects with equal openness in all the regions of Moldova, including the Autonomous Unit of Gagauzia where, besides the donation of school minibuses, we have particular projects that we want to be implemented. One of these projects envisions the repair of the Lyceum “Mihai Eminescu” that is the only Romanian language lyceum in Comrat,” stated the ambassador.
Daniel Ioniță noted that he recently met with the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah, who told him that more such lyceums are needed in the region as the official language should be learned. They realized that isolation cannot do something good.
As to the Transnistrian region, he said that Romania, together with the other EU member states, follows attentively the developments in the 5+2 format talks. According to him, this is the only format in which Romania believes and the only one it wants to support and wants the results obtained in this format to fully respect Moldova’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. But it is even more important for these results not to affect Moldova’s European course.
