Central authorities demand that Wine Day and City Day be celebrated on the same day

The central authorities maintain that the Wine Day and the City Day should be organized on the same day. Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev told Info-Prim Neo that it is a coincidence that this year we will have two holidays on the same day. According to the Premier, this fact should not be politicized as the Great National Assembly Square will house all the kind-hearted people. Tarlev says that the City Day is a holy day and that all the traditions of our predecessors should be observed. As regards the Wine Day, the Premier says that though in delay, the introduction of this holiday was welcome because Moldova is a wine making country and we must know how to promote it. The Prime Minister said that after the Wine Day was instituted, the exports of Moldovan wine products have increased. The Moldovan wines reached countries, where no one knew them before. Also, the Premier says, the number of foreigners increases significantly during a month, when the entrance to the country is visa-free – 15 days before and 15 days after the holiday. This is a delight for hotel owners and other service providers that see their incomes increase, and this can be also named investment. Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca excludes any coincidence in the simultaneous organization of the two holidays. He says that this can be a new side of the conflict between the local and central authorities that arose after the communists lost the elections in the capital. The mayor says that the celebration of the two events on the same day would be regarded as defiance. Moreover, the City Day will lose grounds to the Wine Day. The National Wine Day is celebrated annually on the second Sunday of October. The first such holiday was organized in 2002. Until present it did not coincide with the City Day.